BobT
AH fanatic
- Joined
- Jan 18, 2015
- Messages
- 579
- Reaction score
- 676
- Location
- Missouri Ozarks
- Media
- 46
- Hunted
- Tanzania
Early next morning we were back at it, today looking for nothing in particular, just hunting. I had already taken some nice animals and if I didn't fire another shot would be well satisfied. We hunted a little higher this morning than we had been, the air was cool and the terrain was a little different. We were cruising along when Martin spotted something a couple hundred yards out in the short grass. A nice Duiker was sneaking through the brush, we hopped off the truck and went after him, catching the occasional glimpse we followed along behind waiting for an opportunity. I had about given up when he appeared about 75 yards out crossing left to right, the sticks went up and when he crossed an opening I pulled the trigger. My shot had felt good, I had called it a little low but still in the vitals, I saw him in the scope at the shot leap into the air and reverse direction. These little guys reminded me of miniature whitetails, normally taking off like rockets as soon as they noticed us or lying hidden until we nearly stepped on them, Hilary called them "Flying Duikers". We spent several minutes looking for any sign of a hit, Crispin had decided I had probably missed when Sadiki spotted a tiny speck of blood a little farther out than we had been looking, a short blood trail later I had my Duiker!
I was shocked that he had moved at all after the shot.
It was still fairly early so we continued on our way, looking for something to chase. We came across a couple of Klipspringer and a big bull Sable but nothing I had on license that I didn't already have in the salt.
About an hour later we stopped to take care of the Duiker and have some lunch. Whenever I would shoot something in the morning, the guys would take care of it at the lunch break and cook a few tidbits for themselves. Today they roasted Duiker ribs, when the ribs were done Martin came over and brought a stick of meat with him. Crispin explained that the guys wanted to share their meal with me in the traditional manner, Martin cut off a piece of meat and handed it to me, then one to Crispin and finally took one for himself, this process was repeated until the meat was gone. I was already stuffed full from the lunch the cooks had packed for us but I wasn't about to turn down this treat. The meat was delicious and it was a very humbling experience for me, an honor I will never forget.
After lunch and a short nap we headed out again to see what we could find, we shortly got into buffalo, a lot of buffalo! I still had another one on my license so we decided to see what we could see. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon looking over small groups of buff.
Some of the bulls we saw were very tempting and we saw dozens of up and coming youngsters and breeding age bulls. Late in the afternoon as we headed back to camp another troop of Baboons crossed the road with a large male bringing up the rear, a foot race ensued and just as the big male was entering the long grass he turned to look one last time at his pursuers, this one went down in his tracks without a wiggle.
This must have been the second oldest Baboon in Tanzania because he didn't have any teeth either ! Oh well, I guess i'll have toothless bookends. We were still pretty far from camp and it was getting pretty late so we headed back, just as we were making the final turn into camp a huge Hyena appeared out of nowhere and loped across a glade right beside the road.
I was shocked that he had moved at all after the shot.
It was still fairly early so we continued on our way, looking for something to chase. We came across a couple of Klipspringer and a big bull Sable but nothing I had on license that I didn't already have in the salt.
About an hour later we stopped to take care of the Duiker and have some lunch. Whenever I would shoot something in the morning, the guys would take care of it at the lunch break and cook a few tidbits for themselves. Today they roasted Duiker ribs, when the ribs were done Martin came over and brought a stick of meat with him. Crispin explained that the guys wanted to share their meal with me in the traditional manner, Martin cut off a piece of meat and handed it to me, then one to Crispin and finally took one for himself, this process was repeated until the meat was gone. I was already stuffed full from the lunch the cooks had packed for us but I wasn't about to turn down this treat. The meat was delicious and it was a very humbling experience for me, an honor I will never forget.
After lunch and a short nap we headed out again to see what we could find, we shortly got into buffalo, a lot of buffalo! I still had another one on my license so we decided to see what we could see. We spent most of the rest of the afternoon looking over small groups of buff.
Some of the bulls we saw were very tempting and we saw dozens of up and coming youngsters and breeding age bulls. Late in the afternoon as we headed back to camp another troop of Baboons crossed the road with a large male bringing up the rear, a foot race ensued and just as the big male was entering the long grass he turned to look one last time at his pursuers, this one went down in his tracks without a wiggle.
This must have been the second oldest Baboon in Tanzania because he didn't have any teeth either ! Oh well, I guess i'll have toothless bookends. We were still pretty far from camp and it was getting pretty late so we headed back, just as we were making the final turn into camp a huge Hyena appeared out of nowhere and loped across a glade right beside the road.
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