Trek for the Tiny Ten

[Moe324]

I believe I killed my blue duiker on the Adrian Ford property also. I also used a shotgun and dogs. I hunted with uncle Robert and his dogs. Robert had a bright blue wind breaker jacket on. He's one guy I don't think I'll ever forget. You bloody fool.

 

[hoytcanon]

Blocking out your face in the pictures is stupid.

 

[Hank2211]

Blocking out your face in the pictures is stupid.

This is a perfect example of how this site has degenerated.

If you cared, and had even a modicum of politeness and a semi-decent upbringing, you could have asked why I do that, and I’d have been happy to tell you - I’ve explained it elsewhere on this site. I also apologized for doing so in the second post on this thread. But instead, you decided you know best.

This sort of comment has become second nature on social media among a certain type of person, which is too bad.

 

[Moe324]

This is a perfect example of how this site has degenerated.

If you cared, and had even a modicum of politeness and a semi-decent upbringing, you could have asked why I do that, and I’d have been happy to tell you - I’ve explained it elsewhere on this site. I also apologized for doing so in the second post on this thread. But instead, you decided you know best.

This sort of comment has become second nature on social media among a certain type of person, which is too bad.

I could care less if you block your face or not. But I am curious is it your face showing in your bongo picture on your profile on here? Anyways good stories so far and can't wait for the rest. I have 5 more to go and it will take probably a decade more time to get all 10.

 

[Hank2211]

I could care less if you block your face or not. But I am curious is it your face showing in your bongo picture on your profile on here? Anyways good stories so far and can't wait for the rest. I have 5 more to go and it will take probably a decade more time to get all 10.

Yup. That’s me with Guav Johnson, the PH on that hunt.

Thanks for the comments. Appreciate them.

 

[Hunt anything]

If people want to blur their faces okay by me. There are many reasons to do this, as in this case requested by @Hank2211 kids if I remember correctly. Unsympathetic boss or co-workers can make your work life hell.
I’m a proud hunter and conservationists but I know what battles can be won so no reason inviting a new battle that may come out of the blue.

At one time I felt like @hoytcanon, but after discussing it with the brother of one of my PH’s he was able to change my mind.

Enjoying tagging along on your quest!
David

 

[BRICKBURN]

3. Blue Duiker, Eastern Cape, July 3, 2014

.......... then I saw what looked like a large rat streaking by me. ........

My Blue Duiker was taken with a bow.
It could not have been any more diametrically opposed to your presentation. Small guy flitting into sight through heavy cover and standing nervously while I worked to be silent as I drew the bow to take a standing shot.

Enjoy Peru.

Some of us will still be here when you return to the share the rest of the stories. Others won't!

 

[Hank2211]

My Blue Duiker was taken with a bow.
It could not have been any more diametrically opposed to your presentation. Small guy flitting into sight through heavy cover and standing nervously while I worked to be silent as I drew the bow to take a standing shot.

Enjoy Peru.

Some of us will still be here when you return to the share the rest of the stories. Others won't!

A shotgun . . . sure . . . but a bow? Good for you.

Can’t wait to see who is in which camp!

 

[TTundra]

This is a perfect example of how this site has degenerated.

If you cared, and had even a modicum of politeness and a semi-decent upbringing, you could have asked why I do that, and I’d have been happy to tell you - I’ve explained it elsewhere on this site. I also apologized for doing so in the second post on this thread. But instead, you decided you know best.

This sort of comment has become second nature on social media among a certain type of person, which is too bad.

I've said the same on a few members here before. Propriety seems to slip with a select few. On the positive side, its typically the same few and/or the few don't frequent much or stay long. One of the reasons I prefer AH to most other forums is the level of Decorum.

That said, very much enjoy these stories of your tiny 10. Always a good read on a Hank report!

 

[Charlie64]

What a great thread - I had a similar idea to start a Tiny 10 story on another site but it never took off.
Some great pictures and stories so far. Looking forward to more. I have hunted most of them but the one that stands out the most for me was a Common Duiker (below pic left) that my son shot in Zululand when he was 14. Certainly the most memorable of our little antelope! Cheers

.

 

[Hunt anything]

@Charlie64, whopper of a common duiker! Well done by your son.
Who did the mounts of the duiker and vallie?

 

[Leadwood]

@Charlie64.......really nice looking Vaal Rhebuck!
Where was your hunt......Eastern Cape mountains?
They make for superb stalking.....and some precision shooting in the wind..

 

[Charlie64]

.

@Hunt anything thank you. Donclaire Taxidermy in Newcastle RSA did a lot of my mounts and specifically Linus. But they shut down a few years back after the owner passed away and Linus went to help his father farming. Shame as he was great on small mammals and pigs.

@Leadwood, Giants Castle, Natal is where I hunted the vaalie. Have taken a few seriosuly big ones there over the years.

Hey but I did not want to distract from the opening post and the trek for the Tiny 10 .....


.

 

[Hank2211]

Back at it . . . for a bit!

5. Red Duiker, Eastern Cape, May 24, 2015; Cameroon, Jan 21, 2019

The name “red duiker” can be confusing. For most of us, it refers to what is also known as the Natal red duiker or red forest duiker (cephalophus natalensis), with a range from the eastern coast of South Africa up to Kenya. But there is another “red” duiker, more properly known as the red-flanked duiker (cephalophus rufilatus), which is found in the “forest’ or jungles of west and central Africa. To make things worse, they also look very much alike.

Red forest duikers are small, with a typical shoulder height of 43 cm (17 in), and an average weight of about 30 lbs. Both sexes have short, straight horns about 21/2 inches long (with smaller horns in the female). One challenge is that they also have a ‘ruff’ or tuft of hair on the head which can cover a substantial length of horn, making horn judgment difficult.

The Natal red duiker's appearance is its hunched back, with its front legs shorter than its hind legs. The longer hind legs are often crouched, which lets the duiker jump quickly if it feels threatened.

I was actually hunting for a red duiker in KZN in 2015 near Mkhuzi Game Reserve (a park in KZN). We’d driven to a hunting area about an hour from the park, where we were staying. We began by driving, trying for a spot and stalk, but we weren’t having any luck. Our guide/tracker recommended we slowly walk some cut lines made for power poles. It didn’t take long before we saw a red duiker some distance away feeding slowly. Because I had a .416 Rigby with me that day (can’t exactly recall why), I wanted to close the distance somewhat, so we walked inside the trees, poking our heads out from time to time to verify that our quarry was still occupied with the grass.

Finally, we got to about 100 yards, and I decided to take the shot. It was hard to tell what the result was - he certainly jumped, but as if he was running away. No buck, no flinch. We moved to where he’d been standing, and found no blood. We were near a boundary with another property as it turned out, and if my duiker had run onto that property, we’d likely have lost him. I was starting to get worried when our tracker said “there” - words I love to hear. And there he was, quite dead, with a small hole through his vitals. The 400 grain bullet had gone through, as I’d expected it would, leaving only two very small holes, but some blood had appeared.

The Natal red duiker is technically the red duiker which forms part of the Tiny Ten, but I include the red-flanked duiker because frankly I couldn’t see (or remember) any difference when I shot the red-flanked duiker four years later in Cameroon. The Cameroon hunt wasn’t really a hunt. We were driving along some roads, slowly making our way back to camp, with my PH, Guav Johnson, and I sitting on the back. Guav saw the duiker and stopped the truck. We jumped off but didn’t move very far - just set up the sticks. I recall a brief exchange - Guav telling me to wait until I had a shot - and my taking a shot, with Guav asking me why I had taken it. To kill it? I replied. He said it wasn’t a good shot to take. I pointed out that the duiker seemed pretty dead to me, and if so, how could it have been a bad shot to take. That led to a discussion of the difference between a good shot, and and a good shot to take, the utility of which frankly escaped me at the time, since the little guy was entirely dead on the spot where I’d shot him. Having said that, in hindsight, I can agree with Guav that just because a shot is successful, it doesn't mean it was a good shot to take, but it certainly trends in that direction . . .

In any event, herewith a red-flanked duiker, which is not a red duiker, and therefore not part of the Tiny Ten, but looks an awful lot like the one I shot in KZN.

 

[Hank2211]

6. Oribi, Eastern Cape, May 28, 2015; Benin. March 26, 2017

The oribi is one of the larger of the Tiny Ten, weighing up to about 50 lbs. Only the males have straight horns and they can get to about 7 inches.

There’s only one species of oribi, but it’s claimed that there are up to 12 subspecies. I have no idea whether that’s true or not - the people who are responsible for these things often call something a sub-species because it looks a bit different from the same things found somewhere else, until DNA analysis proves that they are in fact exactly the same thing. Nevertheless, the oribi’s range is quite extensive, stretching right across Africa from West Africa to Ethiopia and then down the east coast of Africa to the east coast of South Africa, with a bulge from Zimbabwe into Angola and parts of DRC.

Oribi are not – in my (limited) experience at least – particularly rare if you’re in oribi country, but for some reason you do need a special ToPS permit to hunt them in South Africa, and it seems that there aren’t too many of those permits issued (or there weren't then). I note that the IUCN lists oribi as being of “Least Concern.”

My plan was to hunt the oribi in South Africa, mostly because I was planning on being in the Eastern Cape and KZN in 2015. Given the need for the permit, I had to plan this hunt some time in advance to make sure I’d have the chance.

So, immediately after breakfast on a lovely day in the Dargle Valley in the Natal Midlands (really a very beautiful area), we drove to a property, about 1.5 hours away, which was known for oribi. I don't know if you can keep oribi in with a high fence, but it didn't matter; there were no high fences here. As soon as we arrived, we began scouting the area. Since oribi generally hang out in open areas, all you really need is a decent vantage point and some patience. If they’re there, you should see them. And within a half hour, we did. They were far, so my PH, John Tinley, had to get the spotting scope to make sure there was a decent male in this group, and fortunately, there was. Now the hard part. Getting close enough for a shot. That took some time, but we managed to get within 250 yards. There was a group of about 5 standing partly in, and partly out, of a dip in the ground. The male seemed to be on the edge of the dip. They had clearly seen us, and were all watching.

We moved very slowly, and I got the gun ready. I focused on the male, and squeezed. Once again, I heard that very satisfying sound of a hit, and the oribi went down, dropping out of sight into the dip in the ground. And once again, Hannes Pienaar, who was in charge of video, decided to try me on. I said “he’s hit” and within seconds, Hannes said – “yup, but there he goes” and in fact, an oribi had jumped up from the dip and run off to the right. S**t, I thought. How was that possible? Hannes, to add credibility to the story, said he’d noticed me pull the shot a bit to the right, which probably meant gut shot. We had to hurry if we wanted any chance of catching up.

So we raced for the truck. John was driving, and I was on top. I could see the oribi in the distance, and told John to stop, saying I thought I could get a shot. John said no, we had to get closer. At this point, I’m sure the wounded animal will be in the next province by the time we slow down, and it was then that I should have known something was fishy. When John finally stopped and asked if I could take the shot, I said "sure, but since the one I shot is lying dead 10 feet in front of you, I assume you mean one of the others in the same group, you assh*le.”

I have to give Hannes credit for thinking fast – as soon as he saw an oribi jump up and run, he invented the story about the bad shot, and my seeing the running oribi gave it credibility.

Benin 2017

Oribi wasn’t on my list of primary targets in 2017 when I was in Benin, but my PH, Christophe Morio, mentioned that there was a decent population in the area we were hunting, and given that I’d said I was prepared to try for almost anything on license, he said we wouldn’t focus on finding one but it one crossed our path . . .

On our way back to camp for lunch on hot day (they were all hot days), Christophe stopped us at a spot near a water hole. He told me to wait in the vehicle while he and a tracker went to check on the water hole. He was hoping to return to the spot later in the day to hunt bushbuck, and wanted to check for tracks. I was dozing when the tracker came rushing back and told me to get my rifle and to come. I had no idea what was there, but when someone says bring your rifle, I never hesitate! Within a few hundred yards we found Christophe, sitting behind some trees. He said he’d seen a nice oribi about a hundred yards ahead, and hopefully it was still there. After this much time, I had my doubts, but it was hot, and perhaps the oribi had found a place to snooze.

Sure enough, when we stood up, I saw a small head about 120 yards away. Had it not been standing between two branches I might have had a hard time seeing it, but its head stuck out. Christophe asked if I could see enough of it to get a shot. I said I thought so, but I would have to figure out which way the body went – it was mostly hidden by the tree. I took careful aim on the lower neck – no need to rush, as it had no idea we were there. A slight squeeze of the trigger, and it was down on the spot.

Again, like with the red duiker, I couldn’t tell the Benin version of the oribi from the South African (apart from the size). Both lovely little guys.