well my last few days of the hunt were upon me. with the kudu still showing on the backs of my eye lids i didn't see how it could be topped. i had 4 awesome animals and memories that would last a life time. sitting around the camp fire monday night we re lived those first few days and talked about the other animals that i might be interested in taking on this trip.
i told Gerhard that honestly i had taken more animals then i ever thought i would and that my trip had been complete after the first arrow left the bow. don't get me wrong i was thrilled for all of the animals that i had taken, but from the very beginning i just wanted to return home with one african animal and it didn't even need to be a trophy.
i have never been a trophy hunter and will never be. i love to hunt with my bow as much as the next trad guy, but just being out there in the bush seeing the wild animals of africa as they have been for millions of years was a dream i had had since a little boy playing in the woods behind my grandmothers house.
we decided that i would go out one more day and try for another nice impala or possibly a zebra if the opportunity presented itself. of course there were many other animals that i had not taken, but i had made it clear from the beginning that i wanted to have something to return for. gemsbuck, bushbuck, waterbuck, eland, hartebeest and nyala just to mention a few.
this trip had been everything and more for both of us. i knew this trip would be something my son Wes would talk about to his grandkids long after i'm a fixture in the happy hunting grounds we had seen wild animals that most kids only get to see on tv or in the zoo.
still my son was hoping for one animal that we had seen almost everytime we ventured in to the bush. he had wanted a warthog, especially since i had mentioned that if we were successful in getting one that he could put the trophy in his room. we had seen probably 20-30 different warthogs since day one but they were all sows with little ones.
i can hear Wes now, "dad here comes another warthog""is this one big enough"? the day i killed the kudu a sow had appeared from his side of the blind and he said, "dad get ready here comes a huge warthog". i could see his disapointment when my PH said, "that's a little pig" "not a shooter". he wanted a hog and some kind of bad. it just didn't seem to be in the cards.
the final time in the blind had come and the visitors arrived soon after daylight. first a few small impala came into drink and they were followed by a large herd of blesbok. i watched a nice impala ram off in the distance and hoped he would make the mistake of coming in for a drink. his little brother didn't waste any time.
ten minutes went by and finally the big ram started to make his moved so i got into position for the shot. he circled around the blind and came in from the right giving me a perfect broadside shot at 12 yards. just as the bow came up my PH said wait, huge hog! i lowered the bow, looking in the direction were Gerhard's eyes were focused. i could see the big pig making his way through the bush .
Gerhard looked at me and said to ready myself for a shot and that if the hog presented a shot to take it right away as he was not likely to stick around long.
at first he came in to the back side of the water trough and it looked as if we wouldn't get the shot, but then for some unknown reason he walked around in front of us giving me a 15 yard broad side shot. he stopped perfect looking in the opposite direction with his front leg forward leaving me with a golden shot.
i didn't need any coaching on this one the arrow was gone as soon as i hit anchor and the hog went down immediately. the arrow had entered right in the shoulder and deflected off bone causing it to strike the spine putting the big boar down for good. i was all smiles as this was the cherry on top of the already over iced cake. Wes had his warthog. it was meant to be. this was his hog.
this was the trip of a lifetime for the both of us. what really made this trip so special for me was that i was able to share it with my son. i wouldn't trade one minute of it for all the world records out there. we are already talking about our return, the only difference will be next time hopefully he will be the one hunting.
our first african safari will live in our minds forever. the sun rises, sun sets, beautiful landscapes, amazing animals and the friendly people that we meet. new friends and the longing for a land far away will keep us in thought dreaming of our return some day. hopefully sooner than later.
the sun has set on this adventure, but a new day will rise when we again return to the dark continent that for this father and son was anything but dark. god bless!
Topic: missing africa already (Read 3722 times)
