And so the hunt begins
- Bob Hanna: Someday
- July 14, 2021
- 708
Summer has arrived, and I can’t say it gets hotter here in Kentucky than Ohio, but it’s a more intense heat. That’s what is nice about retirement — too hot? Just stay inside.
The road crews are in the final stages of the cleanup from last winter’s crushing ice storm. Thousands of trees were crushed under the weight of the ice. They also have been repairing the slides, where the hillside gave way to the heavy rain that followed and took the road with it.
Now back to our story of hunting in Africa.
After leaving Kruger Park, we had another five-hour ride west to the Limpopo Valley. We saw people burning piles of tires in the street protesting against the government — this is evidently a worldwide symbol of protest. We also got to see a robbery. Remember they warned us to keep our windows closed? One of the street vendor’s worst enemies is the monkeys that run in, steal bananas or oranges or anything they can grab and are gone in a flash.
We stopped by the home of Andre Stewart, one of the owners of Kuvhima, to discuss the business part of our safari. His trophy room is filled with just about every species available in that area. As we admired his mounts, I saw a huge eland on a pedestal stand that just looked majestic.
Finally, after four days of traveling, we reached Palala, the same camp we stayed in back in 2014. It felt like a homecoming, except this time we got the “honeymoon suite,” which is much bigger than the others. We met up with Hannes, who also was our guide on our last safari and is one of the best. He knows the animals better than anyone I know of and also has a great sense of humor, so Taryn was entertained the whole time.
One other hunter, Jay, was there from California finishing his safari. He told us a friend of his was going to cancel his safari but offered it to him. He said he had always wanted to go hunting, so he accepted the offer and now was hooked.
Thursday, April 29, the first thing we always do — shooting practice. Especially because we are using borrowed guns, getting “the feel” of a different rifle and caliber is crucial to success. Taryn was up first at the range of 100 yards and had no problem with the 22/250 or the 7mmWinMag.
Then it was my turn. Now Hannes had hung a paper target from the top frame of the metal swinging targets, which are there permanently. For some reason my mind didn’t register the paper target, and my first 7mm shot hit the metal one dead center and made (of course) the classic “ding.” Adam, our African tracker who was standing off to my left side, said something to Hannes, reached down in the dirt and picked up the hot bullet that had ricocheted back to us. Thankfully, no one was injured, but Adam did drop the hot bullet directly.
So now we are off to hunt my sable. Before we get started, I want to remind you that generally we try to hunt a specific animal that has been selected to be removed from the herd, either from a defect or lack of growth, which is called a “cull hunt,” or an older animal, usually beyond breeding age, which needs to be removed from the herd to allow the younger males to breed and keeps the herd healthier. Also, most of these hunts are on game farms that are government or privately owned. They usually range in the thousands of acres. Kuvhima owns and operates about 80,000 acres but has access to over 250,000 acres. The dreams of a truly wild Africa is pretty much a thing of the past.
If I’ve dashed your dreams a bit, I apologize. But I owe it to my readers to be honest and only stretch the truth a bit.
And just like that, like they do on TV, we have to wait until next time to share the exciting hunt for the mighty sable.
God’s blessings on you.