TOBY458
AH legend
- Joined
- Jan 23, 2014
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- Madison Georgia, USA
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The nights in Africa can be quite noisy at times. Especially in the Omay, Zimbabwe. Hippo fighting for their territory, Lions fighting for their next meal, and myself fighting for my chance to tell the next joke around the campfire, with a cold Zambezi Lager in hand. Quite nerve racking!
On the sixth day of our ten day safari, I had taken two of my “big animals”, Cape Buffalo and Elephant. So, now it was time to forgo the 4:30 am wake up alarms and turn down the intensity of the hunt a bit. Four more days to go, and having a blast so far! Time for some lower mileage days, and some night hunting….
The Heyena is often thought of as synonymous with Africa. They are often seen in battles with lions on your favorite nature shows, and can really garner hatred in your heart at the mere thought of them crushing your femure with one swift snap of the jaws. Nasty fellas for sure.
Our plan to hunt them, however, was quite comical. They are basically nocturnal creatures, so it only makes sense to hunt them at night. After a good dinner and some tall tales from the days events, we set out to do some calling. And here’s where the comical part begins. As we pulled the Toyota Land Cruiser into a large clearing, near a bend in the river, I kept asking myself, “How in the hell are they not going to see us in this huge white billboard in the wide open???” I mean, I knew it would be dark when we called them, but aren’t they nocturnal? I must be missing something! My PH, Chap, then yelled out something to the trackers in their native tongue, and like a flash, they were off to collect some large green branches from the nearby woods, to cover up our rather brightly colored ground blind. Once I realized what they were about to do, it all made sense. Well….kinda.
As Chap scrolled though his phone for some Hyena noises he had pre-recorded, to be played over the truck speakers, his phone would at times go into shuffel mode, and begin playing some Hootie and The Blowfish across the loud speakers. This was going to be interesting!
WHOOOOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOP!!! He he he he he he he he he he! The sounds came across the speakers at such a high volume that I thought “there’s no way those Hyena aren’t going to get the last laugh on this one!” The sounds repeated several more times. WHOOOOOOOP!!! WHOOOOOOOOP!!! HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE! By this time I was almost laughing as loud as the speakers. But under my breath of course. And that’s when it happened. ROCK ME MAMA LIKE A WAGON WHEEL, ROCK ME MAMA ANY WAY YA……..OH SHIT! TURN THAT DOWN! His phone had gone into shuffel mode, and what was once the excited sounds of a Hyena making a kill, turned into a soothing melody of Darius Rucker singing an Old Crow Medicine Show tune! I WAS LAUGHING MY ASS OFF NOW! Not under my breath this time…
Now that we had broken the silence, and not in a good way, I figured our hunt was probably over for the evening. But wait….what was that? WHOOOOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOOOP!!! In the distance, just as loud as the truck speakers, an actual Heyena was moving in on us! And then from another direction, WHOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOP!!! There were two! And they were getting closer! Time to get serious and get the gun up! Then from around 70 yards, we heard a very loud growl, and as Chap threw the light up in that direction, there he was! As soon as the light hit him, he bolted! No chance for a shot.
Chap continued swinging the light, and we heard another growl and a long drawn out WHOOOOOOOP! from up on the hillside at around 150 yards away. We hit him with the light, and all I could see were his eyes shining back at us. I knew my R8 375 was deadly accurate at that range, but was I steady enough for the shot? The crosshairs were a bit shakey, but I felt pretty good about the sight picture, when BOOM! The 300 grain TSX ripped through the night air. Then…..silence….. Did I hit him?
We gathered the trackers and a couple flashlights, and off we went. I took them to the spot where I thought he was standing, and just above us was a rather large Hyena laying there with a 375 hole through his neck. After all the handshakes and shouts of joy were over, I still couldn’t believe we had connected. It was a very fun experience, and one I won’t soon forget! Maybe Hyenas do like Hootie after all….
On the sixth day of our ten day safari, I had taken two of my “big animals”, Cape Buffalo and Elephant. So, now it was time to forgo the 4:30 am wake up alarms and turn down the intensity of the hunt a bit. Four more days to go, and having a blast so far! Time for some lower mileage days, and some night hunting….
The Heyena is often thought of as synonymous with Africa. They are often seen in battles with lions on your favorite nature shows, and can really garner hatred in your heart at the mere thought of them crushing your femure with one swift snap of the jaws. Nasty fellas for sure.
Our plan to hunt them, however, was quite comical. They are basically nocturnal creatures, so it only makes sense to hunt them at night. After a good dinner and some tall tales from the days events, we set out to do some calling. And here’s where the comical part begins. As we pulled the Toyota Land Cruiser into a large clearing, near a bend in the river, I kept asking myself, “How in the hell are they not going to see us in this huge white billboard in the wide open???” I mean, I knew it would be dark when we called them, but aren’t they nocturnal? I must be missing something! My PH, Chap, then yelled out something to the trackers in their native tongue, and like a flash, they were off to collect some large green branches from the nearby woods, to cover up our rather brightly colored ground blind. Once I realized what they were about to do, it all made sense. Well….kinda.
As Chap scrolled though his phone for some Hyena noises he had pre-recorded, to be played over the truck speakers, his phone would at times go into shuffel mode, and begin playing some Hootie and The Blowfish across the loud speakers. This was going to be interesting!
WHOOOOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOOOOP!!! He he he he he he he he he he! The sounds came across the speakers at such a high volume that I thought “there’s no way those Hyena aren’t going to get the last laugh on this one!” The sounds repeated several more times. WHOOOOOOOP!!! WHOOOOOOOOP!!! HE HE HE HE HE HE HE HE! By this time I was almost laughing as loud as the speakers. But under my breath of course. And that’s when it happened. ROCK ME MAMA LIKE A WAGON WHEEL, ROCK ME MAMA ANY WAY YA……..OH SHIT! TURN THAT DOWN! His phone had gone into shuffel mode, and what was once the excited sounds of a Hyena making a kill, turned into a soothing melody of Darius Rucker singing an Old Crow Medicine Show tune! I WAS LAUGHING MY ASS OFF NOW! Not under my breath this time…
Now that we had broken the silence, and not in a good way, I figured our hunt was probably over for the evening. But wait….what was that? WHOOOOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOOOP!!! In the distance, just as loud as the truck speakers, an actual Heyena was moving in on us! And then from another direction, WHOOOOOP!!!! WHOOOOOOP!!! There were two! And they were getting closer! Time to get serious and get the gun up! Then from around 70 yards, we heard a very loud growl, and as Chap threw the light up in that direction, there he was! As soon as the light hit him, he bolted! No chance for a shot.
Chap continued swinging the light, and we heard another growl and a long drawn out WHOOOOOOOP! from up on the hillside at around 150 yards away. We hit him with the light, and all I could see were his eyes shining back at us. I knew my R8 375 was deadly accurate at that range, but was I steady enough for the shot? The crosshairs were a bit shakey, but I felt pretty good about the sight picture, when BOOM! The 300 grain TSX ripped through the night air. Then…..silence….. Did I hit him?
We gathered the trackers and a couple flashlights, and off we went. I took them to the spot where I thought he was standing, and just above us was a rather large Hyena laying there with a 375 hole through his neck. After all the handshakes and shouts of joy were over, I still couldn’t believe we had connected. It was a very fun experience, and one I won’t soon forget! Maybe Hyenas do like Hootie after all….
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