Top_Heavy's World

August 2, I saw 5 duiker, 3 zebra, 6 eland, 20 impala, 1 rhino, 2 jackals, vervet monkeys, 2 huge lizards and a Mozambique Spitting Cobra.
That is the journal entry for my third day in Africa. The area we were hunting was not set up for archery hunting and I was trying hard to harvest animals with my bow. We built a ground blind at a pinch point above the lake. We sat for several hours and the trackers and PH got very bored. We continued hunting "safari style"... driving very slowly in the open top truck, looking for a trophy to attempt to stalk. My migraine headache was almost overwhelming again, so we decided to make it a short day. We stopped at a new burn area on the way back to camp. There were guinea hens everywhere. They were scratching in the bare ground and chasing bugs in the flourish of new grass. In our conversations about the lake, I asked about the barbles. Barbles are huge black and white catfish with red fins. I was assured there was a lot of fish in the lake and liver was a great bait for them. Between the hope of barble fishing and sweet and sour guinea, I fought the vision blurring pain long enough to line up 2 of the black and white speckled birds in the scope of my 7mm STW. They were right, sweet and sour guinea, prepaired African style, proved to be one of the best meals I have ever had.

We started the 4th day in Africa by sneaking up on an open flat. As the sun rose, there were large animals everywhere. We saw 4 herds of zebra, 5 cow kudu, 3 duiker, a 46" bull kudu with a spike and 2 other cows, atleast 20 warthogs, baboons and more vervet monkeys. My first encounter with baboons... they are fantastic animals. They have short back legs and very long arms. The dominant male was huge, he yawned several times, actually a warning to us that he was watching. His canine teeth were long and interlocked with the lower ones, what ever they got a good bite on, would be in a lot of trouble. The bull kudu was a trophy of my desires, but 50" is sort of the magic number for a good bull. Maybe that is greedy, but this ranch held the world record for many years of 63", so I passed on this jouvenile. I never saw another trophy quality animal until the last hour before dark.
The truck came down a short hill and we crossed the creek. We entered a river bottom type of habitat, here the grass was greener and thicker and there was papyrus growing everywhere. We traveled along the creek, that obviously ran as a huge river in the rainy season, for some distance. The sun was setting and it was difficult to see very far infront of the vehicle with the sun in our eyes. We almost drove right up to them... There on the other side of a huge clump of tall papyrus was a beautiful herd of sable. I decided to take the next mature bull I came across, and now he was standing about 100 yards away. This reed is very thick and flat, the fibers were once used to make paper. I only had my 7mm, and I knew there was no way to get the bullet through that tough grass. I was going to have to take a neck shot. I was not overly happy with the thought of putting a bullet through the cape of an animal with a trophy cost of $2000. If I put a big hole in the cape, it would affect the look of the mount. If I didn't hit the spine, I would probably just wound the huge animal and I would have to pay even if it was not recovered. The bonnet was folded onto the hood as I laid the rifle across the dash. I made a fist under the forestock and brought the stock to my shoulder. I backed the leupold down, 20X magnification was too much. Allan didn't want to turn the engine off, there were 4 people in the vehicle, and the dam vibration... "I can't make this shot with this much movement" I explained as the herd got nervous. The bulls neck was open for about a foot below it's head. It's head was turned straight at me, so I had a twisted neck shot right into the front of the cape... "He is atleast 35", a great bull around here, try the shot, you can get him" Allans encouragement pushed me over the edge and I went against all better judgement, I tried the shot. I had the scope backed all the way down, even at 6.5X the cross hairs danced off the animal. At the recoil, I lost view of the herd. I never heard the tell tale sound of a hit, so I sat there wondering how my $2000 bet just turned out...
We spread out at the spot the bull was standing. BLOOD... One little leaf of a plant was holding a big drop of blood... "draw blood and it pays the same as a kill" I wasn't feeling very good about things. I picked the leaf and held it, it might get mounted as my sable, if the hit was poor! We spent until dark tracking the herd, we never found another spot of blood. Right about dark the small group was found feeding and the bull showed no signs of injury. Allan stood talking to the trackers, I was nervous but hopeful, this was the first time I saw him like this. The trio got into the truck and Allan looked me in the eyes, his seriousness was noticable. "You didn't shoot at a sable tonight, the bull is fine and you won't have to pay for it, if no one knows about it" He smiled and started the truck. That is the happiest I have ever felt about a bad shot! The bull would be fine, nicked at best, and I would not shoot again from a running vehicle! The sun set on another day in Africa, day 4 had come to an end. I have to admit, I was getting anxious, I had a big list of animals to harvest and only 10 more days to hunt, I was ready to put the bow down for a day and gather some hides and horns!