[This will probably NOT be the normal Warthog hunting story that you have anticipated, but it’s still all true!]
Background…..
We all went armed to school at that time, as it was not unheard or uncommon for the ANC communist terrorists at that time to rather hit-and-run attack ‘soft’ targets, and Schools, Churches and Shopping malls were high on their hurting lists. As young School Principal and the Hostels i.c. as well that time, my staff and I has a responsibility toward those 80 broken and traumatized 7 -13 year old Orphans ect. that were put with us at this unique rural Primary School far away from towns and cities by law and court cases [rape, indecent assault, neglect and many other bad things that has happened to them in their young lives], apart from just their Academic Education!
Well, back to this warthog unusual story…
The short, condensed, bare minimum story behind the story of these photos is as follows.......
I shot this Warthog near a drying water hole [unbeknown to me at that time] just a nearly miss above the left eye [frontal head shot to preserve as much as possible meat] with my trusted 30-06. It dropped like a brick on the spot and as it lies dead still, I again assumed [wrongly!] that it was already dead! I left my rifle in the Jeep and went into the bush to pull it to a clearing so that I can load it onto the Jeep with a home-made pulley system.
This warthog was meant to feed about 80 x small and underprivileged multi-cultural kids and staff for a week at two welfare hostels [B&G] –that I am responsible to feed--attached to this multi-cultural rural Primary School where I was the Principal at that time. I‘ve got the co-operation and goodwill of a couple of sympathetic Game farm owners near the School that know and trusted me by giving me full permission to hunt any warthog there ,as well as providing me with copies of the different game farm’s gates keys for this purpose .
For this particular warthog ‘hunt’ I was as usual still in my suit, as I've just quickly slipped out of school for a short time to get some 'proviant' [food] that were becoming dangerously low due to the [again] late government grants for feeding these poor kids in the hostel that week.[The whole staff were supporting and well versed in telling the School inspector that I was just quickly on a ‘ fund raising’ project, if he maybe unexpectedly pitched up at school while I’m not there...] The government of the day has in their wisdom decided to cut most of our subsidies for welfare children, as –according to them--the money could be better utilized for tenders to build new gravel roads and toilets in that deep rural area [corruption!], but it never happened.
Well I can tell you a lot about this or just do the research yourself...!
Anyway, as I’ve done it many times before, I did not even removed my school suit jacket for this quick warthog ‘hunt’ about 10 km from school, as I would go directly back to school and be in time to take my next class….
[Those were the days my friend...to be able to quickly step into the old 1959 Willys CJ5 Jeep during my free school periods and go get a warthog for hostel meat and still be back in time for my next class--eish man, there are some people that would never understand the meaning of going or caring the extra mile over and above your normal Teaching and School/Hostel Managing job description!]
Anyway, as I reached this 'dead' warthog and start fastening a rope around its muzzle behind the tusks to pull it out to a nearby clearing, it suddenly became 'alive' in my hands and jumped up! I instinctively jumped out of the way of those razor sharp lower tusks that can easy disembowel even a Leopard or Lion, and in the process tripped backwards into a +_ 4 ft. high dense white thorn bush.....
Now, just imagine..., here I lay helpless half in the air with thorns in my back and legs and observe this warthog 'coming’ for me! The more I struggled to get my .38 Derringer out of the ankle holster, the deeper I went down in the thorns bush!
To my surprise the warthog turned to his left when he reached the bush and my shoes and start to walk in a circle round and round snapping his teeth….
[I thought later that the 30-06 ProAmm 220 gr bullet had shocked something loose in his head somewhere, and that his neuro- functions or something was all messed-up]
Well, I still need to get out of them thorns and back to school, as my next Biology class will start soon....
Eventually, I got the .38 Spl out, and aimed across my stomach between my shoes at the warty as I still lay on my back in the thorn bush! As it turned for another circle and was facing me, I let fly and hit the boar a little off-center to the left of its shoulder/chest area. [I was aiming for the head!] It seemed as if this shot had no effect on him at all, and it just turned for another circle.
The second time I luckily hit it with my last shot in the forehead just a short distance from the soles of my shoes, and again it went down, but kicking its legs as if it tried to get up again!
Ignoring the pain and thorns in my back, and ripping and ruining my suit jacket, I scrambled out of the bush and ran to the Jeep to ‘arm’ myself again, as I am now out of .38 Spl bullets. [The Derringer is only a 2-shot]. As I do not want to waste time by getting the gun out of the bag and re-loading it [remember it usually stay in class], the first thing that I saw on the back of the jeep was this short camp axe. I grabbed it and ran back to secure the next couple of days meat. The warty was still down and on its side, but frantically milling with its legs, so I let him have the back of that axe with a mighty blow between the ears.
Well, long story short, I made it back to deliver the Warthog at the hostel kitchen and still be in time to continue with my next class, without my suit jacket. as if nothing has happened, while the hostel staff efficiently starts processing the meat.
My wife was the only one who knew at the time of this little warthog ‘mishap’ escapade, as my suit was ruined and had to be replaced.
Now, that's why I've got myself this big cold steel boar spear, as I've got far more trust in it as a short range follow-up weapon on Warthog than my hide away .38 Spl Derringer!
The things that we've done when we were younger, hey?
If I look today at some of the stinking rich kids from a different Arabic School and culture and country that I now have in-front of me at school as Principal, I wonder if today's younger generation will ever understand or even comprehend where we came from in life...Their biggest concern now seems to revolve only around the latest electronic devices, and some the High School boys even try to act mucho by seeing whom they can impress with their latest model Mustangs ,V8 Land Cruisers or even Corvettes their mega rich daddy bought them...
I feel sometimes sad for them in a sense, as money can never buy these real life experiences that we’ve had, and I wish I could give some of them a character building warthog to hunt the hard way, just for some perspective in life!
Well, I know that times have changed, and that we will have to make peace with it, but still....!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[See another photo of some happy hostel youngsters with another weekly ration of warthog where I’ve taught practical ‘sustainable conservation’ after School at the Hostel in the RSA -- apart from a practical Biology lesson on the spot, they were also taught about Conservation, Outdoor Hunting Ethics and why poaching is bad......a lot of youngsters saw the light then, and I firmly believe that it formed [and changed] their perspective of Hunting and the Outdoors for the better.]
Background…..
We all went armed to school at that time, as it was not unheard or uncommon for the ANC communist terrorists at that time to rather hit-and-run attack ‘soft’ targets, and Schools, Churches and Shopping malls were high on their hurting lists. As young School Principal and the Hostels i.c. as well that time, my staff and I has a responsibility toward those 80 broken and traumatized 7 -13 year old Orphans ect. that were put with us at this unique rural Primary School far away from towns and cities by law and court cases [rape, indecent assault, neglect and many other bad things that has happened to them in their young lives], apart from just their Academic Education!
Well, back to this warthog unusual story…
The short, condensed, bare minimum story behind the story of these photos is as follows.......
I shot this Warthog near a drying water hole [unbeknown to me at that time] just a nearly miss above the left eye [frontal head shot to preserve as much as possible meat] with my trusted 30-06. It dropped like a brick on the spot and as it lies dead still, I again assumed [wrongly!] that it was already dead! I left my rifle in the Jeep and went into the bush to pull it to a clearing so that I can load it onto the Jeep with a home-made pulley system.
This warthog was meant to feed about 80 x small and underprivileged multi-cultural kids and staff for a week at two welfare hostels [B&G] –that I am responsible to feed--attached to this multi-cultural rural Primary School where I was the Principal at that time. I‘ve got the co-operation and goodwill of a couple of sympathetic Game farm owners near the School that know and trusted me by giving me full permission to hunt any warthog there ,as well as providing me with copies of the different game farm’s gates keys for this purpose .
For this particular warthog ‘hunt’ I was as usual still in my suit, as I've just quickly slipped out of school for a short time to get some 'proviant' [food] that were becoming dangerously low due to the [again] late government grants for feeding these poor kids in the hostel that week.[The whole staff were supporting and well versed in telling the School inspector that I was just quickly on a ‘ fund raising’ project, if he maybe unexpectedly pitched up at school while I’m not there...] The government of the day has in their wisdom decided to cut most of our subsidies for welfare children, as –according to them--the money could be better utilized for tenders to build new gravel roads and toilets in that deep rural area [corruption!], but it never happened.
Well I can tell you a lot about this or just do the research yourself...!
Anyway, as I’ve done it many times before, I did not even removed my school suit jacket for this quick warthog ‘hunt’ about 10 km from school, as I would go directly back to school and be in time to take my next class….
[Those were the days my friend...to be able to quickly step into the old 1959 Willys CJ5 Jeep during my free school periods and go get a warthog for hostel meat and still be back in time for my next class--eish man, there are some people that would never understand the meaning of going or caring the extra mile over and above your normal Teaching and School/Hostel Managing job description!]
Anyway, as I reached this 'dead' warthog and start fastening a rope around its muzzle behind the tusks to pull it out to a nearby clearing, it suddenly became 'alive' in my hands and jumped up! I instinctively jumped out of the way of those razor sharp lower tusks that can easy disembowel even a Leopard or Lion, and in the process tripped backwards into a +_ 4 ft. high dense white thorn bush.....
Now, just imagine..., here I lay helpless half in the air with thorns in my back and legs and observe this warthog 'coming’ for me! The more I struggled to get my .38 Derringer out of the ankle holster, the deeper I went down in the thorns bush!
To my surprise the warthog turned to his left when he reached the bush and my shoes and start to walk in a circle round and round snapping his teeth….
[I thought later that the 30-06 ProAmm 220 gr bullet had shocked something loose in his head somewhere, and that his neuro- functions or something was all messed-up]
Well, I still need to get out of them thorns and back to school, as my next Biology class will start soon....
Eventually, I got the .38 Spl out, and aimed across my stomach between my shoes at the warty as I still lay on my back in the thorn bush! As it turned for another circle and was facing me, I let fly and hit the boar a little off-center to the left of its shoulder/chest area. [I was aiming for the head!] It seemed as if this shot had no effect on him at all, and it just turned for another circle.
The second time I luckily hit it with my last shot in the forehead just a short distance from the soles of my shoes, and again it went down, but kicking its legs as if it tried to get up again!
Ignoring the pain and thorns in my back, and ripping and ruining my suit jacket, I scrambled out of the bush and ran to the Jeep to ‘arm’ myself again, as I am now out of .38 Spl bullets. [The Derringer is only a 2-shot]. As I do not want to waste time by getting the gun out of the bag and re-loading it [remember it usually stay in class], the first thing that I saw on the back of the jeep was this short camp axe. I grabbed it and ran back to secure the next couple of days meat. The warty was still down and on its side, but frantically milling with its legs, so I let him have the back of that axe with a mighty blow between the ears.
Well, long story short, I made it back to deliver the Warthog at the hostel kitchen and still be in time to continue with my next class, without my suit jacket. as if nothing has happened, while the hostel staff efficiently starts processing the meat.
My wife was the only one who knew at the time of this little warthog ‘mishap’ escapade, as my suit was ruined and had to be replaced.
Now, that's why I've got myself this big cold steel boar spear, as I've got far more trust in it as a short range follow-up weapon on Warthog than my hide away .38 Spl Derringer!
The things that we've done when we were younger, hey?
If I look today at some of the stinking rich kids from a different Arabic School and culture and country that I now have in-front of me at school as Principal, I wonder if today's younger generation will ever understand or even comprehend where we came from in life...Their biggest concern now seems to revolve only around the latest electronic devices, and some the High School boys even try to act mucho by seeing whom they can impress with their latest model Mustangs ,V8 Land Cruisers or even Corvettes their mega rich daddy bought them...
I feel sometimes sad for them in a sense, as money can never buy these real life experiences that we’ve had, and I wish I could give some of them a character building warthog to hunt the hard way, just for some perspective in life!
Well, I know that times have changed, and that we will have to make peace with it, but still....!
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[See another photo of some happy hostel youngsters with another weekly ration of warthog where I’ve taught practical ‘sustainable conservation’ after School at the Hostel in the RSA -- apart from a practical Biology lesson on the spot, they were also taught about Conservation, Outdoor Hunting Ethics and why poaching is bad......a lot of youngsters saw the light then, and I firmly believe that it formed [and changed] their perspective of Hunting and the Outdoors for the better.]
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Thanks for sharing!
