I was very hesitant to even post pictures of my zebra that I took in Africa last week let alone a story. Seems like nothing brings out the cry babies and hate faces like the picture of a dead zebra or mountain lion. Well I'm a hunter and have taken both and after talking to Terry today I said that I would do a story and like I have said TradGang used to be hunters! Not a bunch asking if their accent stripe in their 30 lb bow will match the color of the limbs! IM A HUNTER and I kill stuff and if its legal that's all that matters!
I said all that, not to offend anyone but to state the fact that you used to be able to come here and visit with big time hunters that were real men and didn't care about the color of their bow limbs only about the adventure and challenge of the hunt.
Both my hunts for mountain lion and zebra are two of the hardest hunts that I have ever done for single species. I have over 100 mountain miles on foot and mule before taking a lion and 6 trips to Africa before sending an arrow at a zebra, so don't tell me they are just cute little cats and striped donkeys'! They are tough to hunt and for some strange reason two of the best tasting game meat you will ever eat. Again I don't mean to be a butt, I'm just old school and miss all the old guys that were here 20 years ago!
This hunt started out with me just asking to fail by doing the thread on the African Zebra arrow thread. I almost always make a special set of arrows or a bow for a special hunt, but just don't say anything about it, because doing so seems to put unnecessary pressure on myself to produce a result in the end. And I learned long ago, its about my hunt and not what the more primitive than thou crowd think. It always amazed me that you can kill an animal in a pasture with a stone pointed stick in the name of science but if you have plastic nocks and Douglas Fir shafts with a Grizzly broadhead then that's not primitive shot out of a sinew backed bow.
On this hunt I set out to hunt Zebra and really wanted to do all that I could to make it happen on my part as much as I could. I know hunters personally that have had a hard time closing the deal when it comes to the tough and smart zebra. They are big, almost being able to since danger in the air when hunted and will often only water ever few days and only at night. I had in years past had a chance or two at them but passed on less than perfect shot opportunities.
For the hunt I would be using my Deer Slayer sinew backed osage bow that I took the South African Spiral Horn Slam with, 60 lbs @ 26'' and will send a 815 grain 5/16 hickory shaft with deadly accuracy and performance. The front end was loaded with a 185 single bevel Grizzly broadhead in front of a 75 grain Woody Weight, a set up that I was again glad that I chose because the out come would have been much different had I not. I will explain that later.
The first evening set of the hunt found me looking at seven zebra a few minutes before dark. They were like all zebra, not wanting to come in to the water, rather choosing to stand just out of range for minutes until dark. I had one come in close and was making ready to shoot and my PH said, that one is not mature so I passed. As you can guess that was my last chance until the next to the last day of an 8 day hunt. Many all day sits were made from just after daylight until way after dark trying to get a chance encounter at one coming to drink.
My day came late in the hunt the next to last day before the hunt ended. My Wife and I sat all day in an elevated blind with my PH and outfitter Louis Steenkamp. We whispered stories of past hunts and spoke of hopes of hunts to come. It was in the last few minutes of daylight that Louis excitedly whispered, ZEBRA coming and they are coming in fast and that there was no time to waste.
I hadn't even strung my bow yet, not wanting it to set there all day in the heat unnecessarily. In one fluid motion I slid the string up the limb into the elk horn overlay and nocked the hickory shaft to the now ready string. In seconds three zebra weaved their way to the water, while sable were already drinking their fill. As is their nature, the zebra pulled up and began looking things over before coming on in to drink. I've been to this rodeo before and knew that if one turned broadside at any reasonable distance I had better make good use of the opportunity. Finally one turned and offered me a shot that turned out to be 18 yards. I never even thought as the camera rolled and my glove came to the corner of my mouth, sending the deadly sharp steel broadhead just in front of the heart above the left leg. I knew the placement was good but was concerned with the lack of penetration as the zebra ran off in the death run. The arrow was in good and not flopping and I could tell by the body reaction that the shot should be fatal. As I turned to Louis I said, I think I just blew his heart out! We reviewed the camera footage which conformed a good hit. We waited a bit but almost instantly we heard jackals in the direction the zebra ran.
So earlier than we wanted we took to the trail. Africans start a blood trail at the spot of the shot and follow tracks, then stay on that track if blood confirms you are on the right track, well we had blood and buckets of it. At one spot Louis had me stop and point at a puddle of blood an inch high full of bubbles and as big around as a five gallon bucket on the ground in that red African dirt as he took a picture of it for later use. It takes a bunch of blood to pool up like that and the farther we went the more it was splashed and sprayed over the brush. We followed that blood trail, although not as much but still easy enough to follow for over a mile and a half in the dark when our lights began to give out and we called off the search until morning and because of the fact that we kept jumping the zebra. The only reason we pushed the track as soon as we did is because of the Jackals were on the track ahead of us as well. Old Peter the head tracker said jackal tracks in zebra tracks! We went to bed uneasy about finding the zebra still in one piece the next morning.
The next morning found us up before daylight with Louis and I going ahead of the direction walking back in the direction of the last blood and William and Peter the trackers on the last blood. First thing Louis found the remains of a baby zebra eaten by jackals. At that very instant the trackers called on the radio saying that they had found my zebra in tact only 150 yards from our last blood the night before. As luck would have it on my part and bad luck on the baby zebra and mothers part, another zebra was giving birth only a hundred yards from where my zebra fell and the predators got on the one giving birth and killed the baby, eating it all except for the head and spine leaving mine in the bush unmolested.
Once we got the zebra back and skinned I was able to see that the shot was just in front of the heart, going into all the bones in the chest and brisket area and luckily for me the front and lower part of the lungs. How that animal went over a mile and a half is beyond me and a testament to the toughness of African game.
We never found my arrow but it served its purpose and hope to find it next year when I again return to Africa in search of more adventure. On the note of adventure, while Louis and I were walking back to try and find the truck in the dark with dim lights we were charged by cape buffalo! Louis grabbed me by the shoulder and pulled me behind him saying get behind me as he shouldered his 308. They pushed towards us a bit but stopped just a few yards out in the dark of the bush! We tried to play it off as a joke as we walked back in the dark about how PH and hunter killed by cape buffalo while looking for a downed zebra.
I will be taking groups back to Sofala next year in August come with me and enjoy the adventure of a lifetime in South Africa!
Topic: Zebra Story (Read 3469 times)
