Can’t believe it’s another rainy day today. After a week or so of the normal freezing morning, burning afternoon, freezing night and clear skies, the rain returned. It’s been lightly raining or drizzling all day today. We went out this morning despite the weather to check on the leopard baits for David the hunter, who has had a really great hunt so far and has bagged amazing specimens of buffalo, hippo, nyala, zebra, bushbuck and giraffe. The family has another 4 or 5 days and the leopard which was actually number one on his list is playing hard to get. Of 6 or 7 baits we have scattered around in the bush, only 3 have been hit, and all by females which are technically illegal to kill. So we’re holding out for a male but time is running short. And although the rain makes for beautiful scenery it really spoils the hunting. And makes for a freezing cold ride on the back of Quinn’s Toyota Hilux.
David left me 3 days ago to go down South with Tokkie. The two of them have been shopping ever since and are picking up the new clients tomorrow. They will then head further south to hunt a few animals which don’t live here on Threeways and then drive all the way back up here to the ranch. They should be home on Tuesday if everything goes as planned. It’s even more freezing cold down there than it is here and David dislikes shopping nearly as much as I do. Needless to say we’re both excited for this little excursion to be done with.
The day David left I went out with the group hunting in the morning, but by the afternoon I was feeling somewhat sulky and sorry for myself so I decided to take the rest of the day off. I was relaxing in the house roaming around on the internet and flicking through tv channels when I heard 4 shots very close to the house. I called on the radio to see what was going on and my worst fears were realized. They had shot a big bull giraffe. And I wasn’t there to catch it on film. I was very disappointed and felt even sulkier than before but decided I should at least venture out there and get some shots of the result. Nothing nearly as spectacular as it would have been to film the action but I did get some nice photos. And it was fascinating to see the giraffe so up close. It was the first one I’d seen shot and it was an interesting sight. It was a huge animal but it honestly looked much smaller on the ground. It had a very strong herbal, almost sagey smell to it and it was covered in scrapes and scars from past fights with other bulls. The sun was down by the time the skin had been removed and most of the meat butchered up so I did not get to see what the giraffe’s insides looked like, but apparently another giraffe needs to be shot sometime in the near future to replace a skin that went bad so hopefully I’ll get to explore the inner workings then.
Every afternoon Mandy has sat by the same water hole waiting for that same eland to come back. Apparently her dad has a different sub-species of eland at home and would like to have one of these ones. So far no luck though. The giant bull has not shown hide nor hair at the waterhole for days now. And there’s almost no chance he’ll show up today with the weather being what it is. The really disappointing thing is that Mandy has only shot one thing since she’s been here, and it happened after everyone came back from the buffalo/hippo hunt down on the concession. Tokkie asked me to stay at Threeways and get some footage of a female hunter for the promo video, but in reality not a whole lot of good advertisement has come of it. I could easily have gone down and seen the buffalo and hippo hunts and still been back in time for the one shot Mandy’s actually gotten off.
She’s hunted every white-tail season with her dad for the past who knows how many years and so she’s undoubtedly a good shot. But you don’t hunt white-tail from the back of a vehicle, or on foot usually so she’s been nervous and timid. David actually was beginning to get frustrated because after 5 days or so she had still not killed anything and it was making him look like he didn’t know what he was doing. The truth was that there were actually a few opportunities in those days where a hunter more experienced in this style of hunting would have had no problem taking. Anyway, the perfect opportunity came while we were out checking the leopard baits one morning. About 150-200 yds down the road, lo and behold a zebra walked out. It stood in the very center of the road almost perfectly broadside and stared at us long enough for Mandy to get settled and get a shot off. It was ever so slightly low, but did the trick and there were hugs and handshakes all around.
So I decided to nap instead of venture back out into the elements this afternoon. It's been lazy and relaxing. Maybe I'll be more productive tomorrow :) Pictures to come soon.
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