Friday, August 12, 2005
Blue Wildebeest
For our first hunt, my PH, Carl, enlisted the help of another PH, Hannes.
We used Hannes' vehicle, or "bakkie", outfitted with a hunting rack. The hunting rack occupies the bed of the small pickup truck, with seats for the clients just behind the cab, rifle racks, and padded bars to the front and side of the seats which may be used as arm or rifle rests.
Hannes was a very interesting fellow, very Teutonic in appearance, very energetic. He had a 9mm pistol in his belt, and placed his battered Remington Model 700 in .375 H&H, topped with Schmidt and Bender scope, in the rifle rack.
We went to property owned by Lollie Fourie, where we saw kudu, eland, gemsbok, wildebeest, warthog, and giraffe. The PH's spotted a wildebeest herd which had a very large bull, and the hunt was on. We kept getting glimpses of the bull, but no shooting opportunities. Finally, the herd was passing through some brush where there was a bit of a window. The PH's told me to take aim on that window, and be ready for the bull to pass. "He is coming, he is coming ... 7 metres, ... 3 metres, ... take him! Take him quickly!"
I took aim on the front shoulder, and squeezed the trigger just as he started to turn away. He appeared to fall and roll in a cloud of dust, rolling behind some bush. The PH's were happy, saying "That is a good shot! He may be down!"
We hurried over behind the bush with Pete, the tracker. There was blood, and tracks, ... but no wildebeest. Now the work started.
Pete and the PH's followed the tracks, stopping often to confer in Afrikaans. At one point the wildebeest stopped to rest and bellow. Hannes walked, stooping low, with his rifle held behind his back as if to hide it from the animals (or perhaps to protect it from the thornbushes?). The wildebeest then ran a bit further, and Hannes and Pete ran after it. A call came out in Afrikaans, and Carl said to me, "Come quickly! Quickly!" What I came to learn is that in PH-speak this means, "Please come here and kill this animal before I have to chase it some more."
I followed Carl and arrived, winded, at the spot Hannes and Pete had taken, about 30 metres from the wildebeest, which was under a tree. I took aim and shot, and had my first African trophy. The ritual of posing the animal and hunters for pictures followed.
Hannes' bakkie had a folddown tailgate with rollers on the bars, to help in rolling the large animal into the back of the truck. We all mounted up for the ride to the fellow with the facilities for skinning and meatcutting.
On the way, Hannes asked me, "Would you like a beer?" I replied, "No, it's too early." I realized from his reaction that what I had really been asked was, "With your kill, are you through hunting for this afternoon?" and that my reply had been taken to mean that I wanted to hunt further. We took a circuitous route looking for more animals, but darkness fell, and we were done.
At the lodge that night, a large group of investors in the ranch were present for dinner. Although most of the chatter was in Afrikaans, they toasted my success in English, and erupted in approval when I spoke the only phrase of Afrikaans I knew, meaning "thank you very much," pronounced phonetically as "buy-a-donkey."
