Busy, Busy, Busy!

Things lately have been absolutely hectic! The only reason I'm getting time to do this is because the vehicle was full today. Although its been very busy it has been extremely fun and I've had some amazing experiences. The mornings and nights still continue to amaze me here. The sound of zebras and the roaring of lions every morning and night are the perfect topping to an already awesome day. Even though every day I have been hunting I would almost consider it a safari. We have to look for specific animals of the right age and size and along the way we see hundreds of animals and hear the amazing sounds of Africa from 6 in the morning until 5 at night and it really doesn't get much better than that!

Going back to last week and weekend a number of events happened. On Friday Susie and I got the opportunity to go dark some sable that Hannes is going to use for breeding. We got to meet some interesting people and we are now in contact with a man who does a lot of animal transport in the area. It was amazing to see how fast they all worked when darting these animals and putting them into a moving enclosure. In total we ended up darting 3 females and 1 male. It was a great experience and I'm looking forward to doing more similar activities in the future. Later that night Susie and I were told to relax for the rest of the night since Saturday was going to be a crazy night behind the bar! We did so by watching a little tv and then practicing up on our billiard skills. Neither of us were very good so we went to bed early knowing what was in store for us the next day.

Saturday arrived and there was all kinds of maintenance that had to be done. Tires on vehicles needed to be changed, lights were out, hot water wasn't working in several vehicles and I needed to stock the fridge. Once all was done and ready we just waited for the mob to arrive and it was going to be crazy since it was Rossett's going away party. The first to arrive we're a couple local farmers. They usually don't come in and I'm glad they don't because they were very rude and not enjoyable guys at all. As the night went on more of the usual customers arrived. Keenan from Bushwise bought a whole bottle of caramel vodka to start off the night and that thing did not last long. Shots and other drinks along with a lot of meal orders were made throughout the night. A group of guys that I have gotten to know and get along with quite well have given me the name Country Boy, so I had the pleasure of hearing that throughout the night. A couple more American girls arrived and they are all staying at Seyafunda. I never really got a chance to stop moving from about 6 until 2 the next morning and we ended up closing down at 4. It was an extremely tiring night, but it was the second largest outcome they had ever had here with about 90 people being there and the bar made about 20,000 rand that night.

Sunday was very relaxing and not much happened. As Monday came along that's when things started getting hectic. We were having a client come in so everything had to be perfectly set up and everything had to be ready. Hannes went to go pick up the client and I was in charge of having the bukkie (truck) ready to go. When they arrived around 3 I got to meet the client, Louie. He is from Pennsylvania, he is an extremely nice man, an amazing shot as I learned at the shooting range, and my favorite client so far. 

We started off the hunt by just driving around Roelof's property for about an hour that night. We didn't see a whole lot, but we saw enough nyala to know we'd be coming back there. Every night that we have clients we get a 3 course meal and all of them have been absolutely amazing. I thought coming here I'd lose weight, but I'm pretty sure I'm wrong about that if things continue the way they do! I woke up the next morning at 5 to wake up Louie and get everything ready for the hunt. It was a very unusual African morning and Hannes didn't like the look of things. Animals here are completely opposite from ones in the US. Here they move around most when it is hot and dry with little wind and this morning it was cold and extremely damp and foggy. Luckily for us though we drove to Brian's property and spotted a group of impala and zebra right away. Hannes Louie and I all got out of the vehicle and started tracking the animals on foot. It was long before we saw the zebra about 50 yards in front of us. The shooting sticks were ready and Louie took aim. It was so foggy that he could only see the outlines if the animals and as the 4th zebra walked into sight Hannes yelled shoot and Louie shot. He had made a perfect shot, hitting the spine, and dropping it in its tracks. It was a very nice looking stallion zebra and he plans on getting a pedestal mount done since he already has a rug. After that we loaded the animal on the back and continued driving. We saw countless giraffe, wildebeest, zebra, and impala, but no waterbuck which was next on his list. We came back to the lodge at noon and had some lunch. After that we were on a mission to shoot 2 impala so some other friends of Louie's could use them as leopard bait. It didn't take long and Hannes got one impala and Louie got the other. We brought them  to the house to be taken care of and then headed to Roelof's around 2 to see what we could find. We drove around quite a bit, but we weren't quite seeing what we wanted so we did a few walks. As the day was drawing to an end we came across a nice bull nyala. We had to crouch for quite a while to stay out of sight and right as the animal walked into a clearing Louie shot this one with another amazing shot. The nyala ended up running into a tree right before it died and bent one of the antlers. Hannes had never seen that before, but the taxidermist will be able to fix it easily. This first day was extremely eventful and went very well.

Wednesday had come and the focus of the day was to get a trophy waterbuck on Brian's property. We saw just about everything but a waterbuck as the day went on including tracks of poachers and their dogs. Hannes told us all to be prepared to see them and if you saw the dogs to shoot them. Noon was drawing close and we hadn't seen much so we went to the same tree stand I had slept in a couple weeks ago. We sat in there for about 3 hours and didn't see anything but nyala until about 1 when things got interesting. Louie was glassing the area when he spotted something in the distance and he turns to us and said he thinks it was a man. Hannes asked what color clothes he was wearing and Louie said green. Brian's workers usually wear blue so Hannes immediately thought poacher. The guy was moving closer and when he got into a clearing we saw he was carrying about 20 snares with him. The man walked right next to the stand and Hannes whips out his pistol pointing at the man and yelling in the native language to get down. The man fell to the ground and Hannes went down to interrogate him. The man said he worked for Brian and told Hannes a name. He called Brian, gun still pointed at the man, and Brian said that was his worker and his job was to walk around and collect poachers snares. He let the man up and continue with his work, but boy I tell you that was quite the experience. Shortly after I had to free climb a tree and cut some branches in the way of the blind with a machete. It was nerve racking because I was fairly high up and I wasn't exactly using the best equipment. But, all went well and I didn't fall. As the day went on we saw 2 waterbuck, but neither of them were big enough. We eventually headed back, had a great dinner, and sat around the fire telling stories and having some drinks like every night. It was not the best hunting day, but it definitely had its intense moments!

Thursday had come quickly and it was a very cold morning. The goal of today was to land a massive warthog on Roelof's property. As soon as we drove in the gate Hannes stopped the vehicle and told me to hurry up and get the camera ready. I had no idea what was going on, but Louie told me Hannes had spotted the sable down the fence line. We walked about 300 yards and then it came into a clearing. It was perfectly broadside at about 100 yards away. The shooting sticks were set up and Louie took the shot. The animal jumped showing it was hit and ran into the bush. We got Seepo (the tracker) and started looking for blood. We weren't having much luck so Hannes let his pride hunting dog, Patch, go to work. Within seconds patch was barking and growling. He had the injured sable pinned against a sand mound. Louie shot it again and the animal went down. As we got closer this animal was still alive! I was amazed at how tough it was. Patch was biting at it and it was rolling around kicking and swinging its massive antlers. Hannes finally went up and shot it in the heart, but it still didn't stop fighting after 3 shots! At one point it almost got up and it flung patch to the side. After about 5 more minutes of fighting with this little jack russel it fine died. This thing is massive and we we loaded it up onto the back after getting a few good photos. It was later measured and came out to have 43 inch antlers which is the biggest sable Hannes had ever guided. It was a great start to the morning. Next I had to drive back to the house to get it skinned. I have to admit I was quite nervous because I am still not all that familiar with driving stick. I did ok though overall. We got back and then Seepo and I headed into town to fill up with diesel and get some tires fixed. It was very strange for me because I had to drive on the opposite side of the road and although Seepo was with he barely speaks English and doesn't have a license so it wasn't all that reassuring. Everything went pretty smooth and I didn't crash or kill anyone so I was very pleased with my performance. We got back to Roelof's and had to wait for dark to see if they had gotten the warthog or not. Just as the sun went down we were getting close to the blind Hannes and Louie were in and we heard a gun shot. Seepo says shit, which was quite funny, thinking we had scared the pigs causing a bad shot. We got there and lucky we were just late enough and they had gotten the hog. I thought it was a nice looking pig, but I later found out there were 2 there and once Louie shot it and dropped it he turned to Hannes all excited. Hannes calmly looks at Louie and said you shot the wrong one. That story ended up being the laugh of the night, but Louie was just glad he got one. The camp got completely full that night with the other guys Louie had came with since they all got their buffaloes. Another good dinner was had and all the stories were told. I got to meet a lot of nice guys and even the man who is the owner of the largest copper producing company in the United States. There were so many people Nico get to share a room with me, but I don't mind. They had a full vehicle today so I couldn't go along, but hopefully they get what they are looking for. They are here until Sunday and leave to hunt the Kalahari on Monday. 

Even though I am enjoying the hunts I am looking forward to our week off next week and then another night behind the bar since the bar is closed when we have clients. I think in our week off we are going to the highland camp to do some personal hunting, which I am extremely excited for and then possibly going to Kruger national park as well. Hannes made an offer to me that I am sure I will accept as soon as I get permission from my parents. He told me that I will be shooting several animals and he will be paying for the hunts. He also said he would pay for one of the animals to be mounted, all I'd have to pay for is the shipping back to the US. So hopefully all goes as planned there and yet another amazing weekend and upcoming week awaited me in the amazing country of Africa!