Just completed a fabulous hunt with three great friends in the Omay with Dalton & York.
Travel:
our travel was fairly easy except for my good friend @TOBY458 who seemed to always be picked out of the Check-In line to just about be strip searched while @Philip Glass Terry and myself always easily went through…almost. In Atlanta I made the mistake of wearing my foot gaiters over my boots. The TSA agents freaked out when I took off my boots but not the gaiters. I thought I was going to be strip searched due to this. My mistake was telling my three good friends the story. Over alcohol, the three dubbed me “The Foot Terrorist”.
Surviving Me:
The first morning of hunting had us up at 4:15 AM with no moon showing or light. I tripped over a low stone wall landing on my elbow producing fluid in the joint which I am still recovering from but nothing was stopping me from hunting.
Buffalo:
I was truly blessed to hunt with Garrath Brown and his tracking team for the 10 days. He and his team were nothing short of outstanding!!! For the first two days we hunted from Dawn to dark with a break in the field for lunch. Up and down hills with mopani bees driving us nuts. The wind kept shifting on us as we tracked four smart old dugga boys…man was it fun!!! On the third day Garrath had had enough…he announced we were hunting straight through no breaks until we had our buff!!! Man you’ve got to love a PH like that!!! To show how dedicated he and his team are I had to cheer them up after the first two days versus the other way around! At 4:11 it happens…climbing up another hill Garrath suddenly grabs me and puts the sticks up…I put my 470 DR up but can’t find the great bull through my red dot!!! Garrath does not blink an eye and grabs my 375 H&H from his tracker so I can find the bull through the Swaro scope…saying I was a little excited is quite the understatement!!! I suddenly see just his head looking right at me with heavy brush blocking his body. With months and months of weekly practice with both guns off sticks and free hand I was ready. I aimed between his eyes but pulled it just a wee bit to the right with the 300 grain A-Frame hitting him perfectly through his left eye dropping him instantly!!! I switched back to my 470 DR and put two insurance shots in him and he was ours!!! Talk about celebration!!! Three hard days of non stop hunting…6 to 6 for three straight days in hot temperatures…I have never drank more water in my life and I don’t like water. The next part was truly amazing to witness. Villagers are throughout the Omay. To see poverty like that seeing people living in mud huts, no running water or electricity made me see our own poverty in the US just does not compare. These people have lived this way for the last 200 years. They raise maize which they eat twice per day. Whenever meat is taken by a hunter the people will walk 8 miles one way half of them barefoot with axes, knives and buckets. I saw 100 villagers first cut a road into where my buff lay then cut him up. They then arranged people by groups; women, old men etc to get a share. When it was over only grass from the buffs stomach was left all in the space of two hours.
Jurassic Park:
Now on to tuskless elephant!!! There is a place in the Omay they call Jurassic Park since it harbors large elephant in incredibly thick Jess. We spent the remainder of the hunt in there with the following highlights:
Saw my first 10 foot black mamba 10 yards in front of us crossing the dirt road. Saw a three inch wide group of hissing ants crossing the road…yes you can hear them hiss! On one hunt we found a baby laying down 20 yards from us…we got the you know what out of there due to knowing mama would charge us if she smelled us. We stalked up on a nice bull elephant getting to within 20 yards with my having an easy shot with my 470 DR if I had a tag which I did not
Final thoughts:
Dalton & York are first class all the way with Chap and Garrath being the same!!! The food and atmosphere was nothing short of outstanding. It was truly a great honor and privalige hunting with them making memories with my great friends @Philip Glass, @TOBY458 and Terry. I will be back!!!!!
Travel:
our travel was fairly easy except for my good friend @TOBY458 who seemed to always be picked out of the Check-In line to just about be strip searched while @Philip Glass Terry and myself always easily went through…almost. In Atlanta I made the mistake of wearing my foot gaiters over my boots. The TSA agents freaked out when I took off my boots but not the gaiters. I thought I was going to be strip searched due to this. My mistake was telling my three good friends the story. Over alcohol, the three dubbed me “The Foot Terrorist”.
Surviving Me:
The first morning of hunting had us up at 4:15 AM with no moon showing or light. I tripped over a low stone wall landing on my elbow producing fluid in the joint which I am still recovering from but nothing was stopping me from hunting.
Buffalo:
I was truly blessed to hunt with Garrath Brown and his tracking team for the 10 days. He and his team were nothing short of outstanding!!! For the first two days we hunted from Dawn to dark with a break in the field for lunch. Up and down hills with mopani bees driving us nuts. The wind kept shifting on us as we tracked four smart old dugga boys…man was it fun!!! On the third day Garrath had had enough…he announced we were hunting straight through no breaks until we had our buff!!! Man you’ve got to love a PH like that!!! To show how dedicated he and his team are I had to cheer them up after the first two days versus the other way around! At 4:11 it happens…climbing up another hill Garrath suddenly grabs me and puts the sticks up…I put my 470 DR up but can’t find the great bull through my red dot!!! Garrath does not blink an eye and grabs my 375 H&H from his tracker so I can find the bull through the Swaro scope…saying I was a little excited is quite the understatement!!! I suddenly see just his head looking right at me with heavy brush blocking his body. With months and months of weekly practice with both guns off sticks and free hand I was ready. I aimed between his eyes but pulled it just a wee bit to the right with the 300 grain A-Frame hitting him perfectly through his left eye dropping him instantly!!! I switched back to my 470 DR and put two insurance shots in him and he was ours!!! Talk about celebration!!! Three hard days of non stop hunting…6 to 6 for three straight days in hot temperatures…I have never drank more water in my life and I don’t like water. The next part was truly amazing to witness. Villagers are throughout the Omay. To see poverty like that seeing people living in mud huts, no running water or electricity made me see our own poverty in the US just does not compare. These people have lived this way for the last 200 years. They raise maize which they eat twice per day. Whenever meat is taken by a hunter the people will walk 8 miles one way half of them barefoot with axes, knives and buckets. I saw 100 villagers first cut a road into where my buff lay then cut him up. They then arranged people by groups; women, old men etc to get a share. When it was over only grass from the buffs stomach was left all in the space of two hours.
Jurassic Park:
Now on to tuskless elephant!!! There is a place in the Omay they call Jurassic Park since it harbors large elephant in incredibly thick Jess. We spent the remainder of the hunt in there with the following highlights:
Saw my first 10 foot black mamba 10 yards in front of us crossing the dirt road. Saw a three inch wide group of hissing ants crossing the road…yes you can hear them hiss! On one hunt we found a baby laying down 20 yards from us…we got the you know what out of there due to knowing mama would charge us if she smelled us. We stalked up on a nice bull elephant getting to within 20 yards with my having an easy shot with my 470 DR if I had a tag which I did not
Final thoughts:
Dalton & York are first class all the way with Chap and Garrath being the same!!! The food and atmosphere was nothing short of outstanding. It was truly a great honor and privalige hunting with them making memories with my great friends @Philip Glass, @TOBY458 and Terry. I will be back!!!!!
....but am wondering why you wore gaiters on the flight....and didn't you take a torch with you?...would have saved you not seeing the wall
Too bad about the elephants, but that is hunting. I do think that it is a honor to be able to follow then and hunt in close.
