Ok, I'm back! So much to do when one returns from 2 weeks on the dark continent! Where was I? Oh yes, my adventures.
One of the days when Marco & I were taking a mid-day break from spot & stalk we happened upon 2 Rhinos that were scared of nothing.
After getting some great photo's I asked Marco if I could rubber blunt one. Marco tells me to leave the Rhinos alone, you don't want to make them mad. I said, "come on, let me blunt one." Marco says, "fine, but I'm not backing you up." So I ask him," what do you mean?" He says, " if you make them mad and they decide to stomp you, you'll become part of Africa & I won't do anything about it, it's your fault!" I told him, "DEAL!" If you gota go, what a why to go! So Marco says, "give me your camera so it dosen't get ruined", & he got this shot.
The Rhino didn't even know I hit it! It just looked at the arrow on the ground & kept feeding! If you look close in the photo you can see the arrow hitting him one the point of the shoulder, Marco says to me,"too far forward, if that was a broadhead, you'd be dead!" At least I can say I've shot a Rhino bull with a bow!
I returned to my treestand a couple days later & was belted in by 7 AM. I didn't have long to wait because by a little after 8 I was standing up stretching when I looked behind me & saw kudu horns! If you've hunted Africa I don't have to tell you how cautious Kudu are. Now here I am caught standing up with out my bow! I slowly reach over & pick-up my bow. No Kudu run away, so far so good, I get an arrow on the string, no Kudu run away, so far so good. All I've got to figure out now is how to get sat down, with the camo netting I can't shoot standing up. That's when the 2 big boys walk in.
I'd gotten photo's of this old broken horn and his magnificent deep curl partner 2 days earlier. Now my knees are shaking! The 2 monarchs were watering at the trough 40 yds away & I'm thinking, "I've got to get sat down before I fall!" I slowly slide down the tree till I had 1 butt cheek on the seat, it'll have to do. There's about 4 Kudu feeding on the grain in the though for about 20 minutes and then the old broken horn warrior came around to eat the hay in my shooting lane. Things are getting exciting now folks! My butts starting to cramp up! I'm waiting for the old warrior to step out from behind a limb when the big deep curl bull steps up next to the old warrior to eat. Oh perfect! I have a hard time making decisions like this. Both bulls are now in my shooting lane, about the same yardage, my choice. I'm tring to decide, the old warrior is so unique, I've never seen one like him. The deep curl is almost certainly record book quality, high 50's maybe flirting with 60, Marco told me when we photographed them both. Well, I've never been much for record books, & I'm kinda unique myself so broken horn it is. I pick my spot on his chest, come back to full draw, anchor, & release. The arrow goes perfectly, the exact spot I was looking! The arrow buries to the fletch in his chest! He bucks up, whirls & runs to the west. I know I've pole-axed him! He goes about 80 yards & hangs his head. I'm so excited I call Marco on the radio & climb down. The Kudu's not standing or laying there, no worries, I know I thumped him. Marco show's up & we go to look for my Kudu. We go to where he was standing & find the arrow broke off right behind the broadhead, soaked with blood. Good right? No blood on the ground. Marco tracks him by his track for awhile & we can't find hide nor hair of him. I'm a little concerned when Kevin calls & says he's shot an Impala, a little far back. Marco tells me that we're going to go resolve Kevins problem then all 4 of us will come back & find my Kudu. Ok fine.
We go to Kevin's hide & Kevin tell's us he shot his Impala in the hind quarters & it went west. I look through my binocs & I see Kevins bright arrow bobbing around in the scrub. His Impala is down in the back & he's able to slip in & put another arrow in him to finish him. A very nice ram.
After pics we head back to find the Kudu. We search for about an hour & a half when Marco says to me, "you didn't hit him wherte you think you hit him, you went over his spine." Now I'm not the greatest shot that ever lived, nor am I saying I can't be mistaken, but I knew I'd center punched that Kudu. Marco suggested we go sit in Kevin's blind, eat lunch, & Gerhard would go skin Kevin's Impala, then we'd get the black trackers & do a grid search.
We sat in the blind for a little over an hour, I hated that! There where Impala, Kudu, Zebra, & Giraffe in front of us. It was like watching TV to me. Seeing all the wildlife without being part of it.
When Gerhard returned we got the black trackers, Slowy & William, & got back on the track. We started doing grid searches, the blacks saying that they'd only seen that bull in one section of the property. Marco kept preparing me for not finding him telling me that all the evidence pointed to a non-lethal hit. We weren't having any luck & it was almost 5 PM, I'd shot him at 8:30 AM. Marco said one last sweep, so we started out. I was next to Slowy & we went about 40 yards when we heard "BOOM!" Marco got him! Slowy & I go running to find Marco, after about 100 yards we come across Marco & he's shaking his head. I said,"did you get him?" Marco said ,"I saw him, about 450 yds down the road, this guns good to about 250, missed by about 100 yds!" Damn! Marco tells me, " he didn't look hurt Vince, I don't think we're gona get him." I'm destroyed! How could I be so wrong about the shot? Slowy went up to see if he could pick-up the Kudu track on the road & was a couple hundered yards ahead of us when he starts yelling madly in Afrikaan, he dosen't speak any english. Marco & I take off on a dead run & when we reach Slowy we see the Kudu standing in the scrub! Marco yells, "shoot him!", now I've just ran farther than I have in quite some time & I'm excited so I yank the bow back & promptly miss! He dosen't go far & I can tell he's hurt, Marco yells,"shoot him!" I get another arrow out & calm down draw back, pick a spot & release, the arrow zips right through his chest, & he dosen't even acknowledge he's been shot! Marco says,"shoot him again!" I pull my last arrow out & shoot him again, right through the chest. He goes down to his knees, but still holds his head high. Marco says,"shoot him again!" & I tell him,"I don't have any more arrows!" Marco runs over & finds one of the arrows that went through him & tosses it to me! I draw the bloody arrow back & pick a spot in his elbow & release, the old warrior brought his hoof up to the spot I picked & blocks my arrow! Marco grabs another arrow & sticks it in his heart to finally put him down.
The trackers won't go near him. They keep calling him,"The Ghost". He'd been pursued by the property owner for two years & he couldn't get near him. Then he refused to die here. After we reassured them that he was indeed dead we were able to take pics
We took him back to the skinning facilties & skinned & gutted him. During the autopsy we discovered that each arrow that entered him should've killed him, including my first one from the tree. The first one hit a rib going in 2/3 of the way up on his chest & hit a rib & smashed into the shoulder on the off side near the bottom of the chest. Marco shook his head & said he wasen't going to try to figure it out, the old ghost was dead!
To say that African game is tough is an understatement!
Topic: I'm back from Barrel & Bow in SA (Read 2736 times)
