Top_Heavy's World

August 6
AM. I sat in a tree for half of the day. I saw 2 small warthogs at about 150 yards, 2 impala ewes, and flock of parrots, and female ostrich.

I was dropped off at my tree well before light. The property I was hunting was set up for Safari style hunting, from open top trucks with rifles, and I was only the second bow hunter on the ranch. No stands were available, no serious scouting had been done, animal patterns were not watched closely enough to pin point trophy animals and there was lots of water on the property. Bow hunting here was as tough as it gets. I climbed into the only tree large enough to support me, offer some cover, and had a crotch big enough for me to stand in. Hunting like this is tough on the feet, tests a man's endurance and generally tests the overall abilities of a hunter. I stood for hours, looking over the remaining pile of white corn and large round salt block. The baboons had eaten most of the corn since I was here last and the tracks of the plains game looked mostly like cows, ewes and young. A rhino had pushed around the big rock of salt, the drag mark in the soil was very visible. Only in Africa is a sight like this possible. I sat for several hours until I saw a huge snake swinging in a tree about 40 yards away. The head of the snake was strangely shaped and the snake had an odd color... I was sure it had to be a constrictor by the huge head. I was in total amazement when that "snake" stepped from the thick brush and proved to be an ostrich's neck and head! I felt rather foolish at mis-identifying that sight so badly. I was still laughing to my self when a flock of nearly 50 brightly colored parots winged into my tree. I couldn't believe my fortune, as green, blue, red and mixed colored birds danced and fluttered with in feet of my location. These quail sized birds landed as close as 12" at times. I wish they would have stayed longer, but the entire flock lifted and I was alone again. I finally decided to climb down and walk the miles back to camp, I knew the roads and I was in need of more exercise after the great food and sedimentary hunting style. The road took me past the lake where I saw a beautiful crocidile, about 10' long, 20 impala and 6 warthogs. That walk alone, in a wild land, with out a gun, was one of the best 1/2 hours of the trip.
After lunch we again rifle hunted from the truck. The sun was high and warm and the trackers were in high spirits. One of the game guards we stopped to talk to had seen 3 nice impala rams not far away and we decided to go look for them. We soon found the bachelor group and one of the rams had a really wide set of horns so a plan was layed out. We climbed into a huge rock pile for cover and elevation, the best ram was determined and I got into position for a shot. I was forced to crouch down due to the shape of the rocks, I was also forced to lean on the balls of my feet to see around the edge of another rock. This leaning and crouching put me in a very unbalanced position and when I shot, the .375 put me almost on my butt. The recoil was massive and I immediately grabbed my forehead. I heard the trackers start running to gather the fallen trophy, but I was unsure of Allan's location. "Did I get it?" a question to locate him, I knew the answer. "Yes, are you alright?" I was laughing and holding my forehead. I had leaned into the scope, the recoil was too much and I had a cut, the shape of half moon, between my eyes. Blood was pouring from this fresh wound and I was laughing my butt off. Blood made my hands sticky and stained my shirt, but it was still really funny!

I finally got the bleeding slowed and I went to admire my prize, a really nice 21" ram, taken at about 70 yards, off hand. While loading my impala and driving back to camp we saw another 30 impala, 6 warthog and a group of Rock Dassie. Africa really is covered with animals of all types.