When Animals Attack.. by David Johnson

While hunting in Matetsi Unit 2 in Zimbabwe this past summer of 2009, I was constantly amazed at the calmness of the native guides and local people who have been hired as our camp staff. Myself, being raised in the city and a fan of outdoor adventure movies, all I could think about was the movie the “Ghost and the Darkness.” I guess growing up in this part of the world people have become accustom to truly wild animals.


Rolling along, approaching camp, everyone smiles and waves to us as if there wasn’t a thing to be concerned about. I had to keep telling myself this is WILD Africa anything can happen. Lions, Leopards, Elephants and more call this place home and defend it aggressively if anyone strays too far into their domain. Carefree and unconcerned, everyone proceeds with the days chores. What we all didn’t know is, things were about to change.

Hunting camps are typically the last place you’ll find wild game. Animals have gained a healthy respect for humans in this part of the world and for good reason. The natives have been hunting animals as food for centuries here. Therefore, wild animals usually stay far away or they end up in the pot for dinner. Yet every so often you hear stories about animals who loses their fear of people and gain the upper hand. This often doesn’t bode well for the unsuspecting human in the story.

With the sun at full midday power, our ride comes to a squeak and dusty stop. I make my way up the path from the open safari vehicle towards my hut. The smell of lunch cooking on the open fire puts new energy in my step. Unloading my backpack, rifle, belt and extra field clothing feels good. A splash of soap and water to cut the dust that covers me from head to toe, also helps to revive my spirits. Lunchtime, in safari camp is a time to relax and rest up a bit. Also it’s time to enjoy a bit of something shot fresh the day before. Impala or Sable steaks are excellent when prepared by our native cook. Complimented, with some locally grown vegetables and rice makes for a great meal. For my squeamish readers, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it.

After our noon meal, we all look forward to enjoying a few hours of nap time before setting out again to see what the hunting gods have in store for us. Now I don’t know about you, but this is the hardest time for me to nap. The anticipation of the afternoon hunt is too much for this guy to take. The playback that runs through my mind include the sights, sounds and encounters of the morning. This is far too much information for my brain to process while trying to sleep. So relaxing the body is the goal, relaxing the mind, well that’s not going to happen for quite a while.

As Darren and I are just about to head to our huts, a rather concerned camp staffer comes running up to Darren. From the pace of his step and the concern in his voice, it’s immediately apparent that something is wrong. Darren turned to me and asked if I wanted to provide a service to the camp and add to my trophy list. “What is it”, I asked, “what’s going on”? Darren explains that for the past two years the camp staff have been terrorized by an aggressive group of Baboons. Their leader, an extremely large male, is known to sneak into camp and force his way into the food hunt through the grass roof. Once inside he would help himself to fresh fruit and vegetables used to feed the hunters and staff.

Unknowingly the camp staff would enter the hut only to be set upon by this fang toothed male. There was talk that one day this Baboon may kill one of the staff, which would only embolden his already aggressive behavior.

Upon hearing this I agreed to try and headed off to recover my rifle and binoculars. Darren had to clear our plan with the Government Game Scout, since shooting game in camp is frowned upon by the Zimbabwe Government. Since he travels with us and stays in our camp, his quick approval cleared our path and set our plan in motion.

This large male had as before entered the food hunt through the roof and had confronted the staff. With food in hand, the Baboon retreated to the brush where his troop anticipated his return. Focusing my binoculars, I could see about 6 Baboons milling about watching us to see what we were going to do. Darrin told me that other hunters have lobbed shots at them before, but none have been able to connect. I looked at Darren and ask, “Which Baboon is he?” Darren replied without taking his eyes off the group, “He’s easy to pick out, since he’s twice the size of the others”. “There he is”, Darren says, “he’s sitting behind that bush about 150 yards out, eating one of our tomatoes, do you see him?” “I don’t”, I replied, just too much brush in my way”.

Moving behind Darren and to his right, my new position gives me a better angle, “Now I can see him, “He is Big”, I say to Darren. “Biggest Baboon I’ve seen in the 11 years I’ve been guiding in Matetsi Unit 2, do you think you can hit him from here?” Darren says. Thinking back to the years of practice at the Shooting Range in Bristol Wisconsin , creating tiny group on paper from the bench at 200 yards, to develop not only the cartridge load I’m using, but to fine tune my shooting skills. I turn to Darren and smile, “I can shoot him through the tomato if you want me to!” “Take him when you get the chance, nothing fancy, just a good solid center shot should do nicely” he replied. Quickly finding a stable shooting position, I let the crosshairs settle on the tomato. Gripped firmly in the left hand of the Baboon, this beast looks up and in our general direction. Watching us, he shows literally no concern at all. Relaxed he squats behind his bush, taking bite after bite out of the tomato.

Checking my breathing, wind and natural point of aim, everything is ready. Holding on the Baboons chest just right of center due to the angle, I gently squeeze the trigger. I need to ensure there is no movement of the rifle at this critical time or the shot will go wide and miss this important target. The trigger breaks cleanly followed by the recoil’s gentle push against my shoulder. The muzzle blast lifts a cloud of dust and obscures my vision, “A fine shot, that’s it for him”, Darren says with a smile. I can hear the sound of Baboons scattering in the distance, and none too happy at that. “With their leader gone, they won’t be coming back here again”, says Darren.

Unaware, I realized that the camp staff were watching from behind us. As if I just scored a touchdown my cheering section begin to celebrate. To them, I may have done just that. No more worries, no more concerns for now. This is one beast, that they won’t need to fear anymore.

Approaching the Baboon, I kept a round loaded and the rifle at the ready. You cannot be too careful when approaching downed game. All too often, they can recover from a less than lethal shot only to attack from close range. This time, the shot was good and upon inspection, we realize how big this Baboon really was. With photo’s and congratulations complete, off to the skinning shed he goes. “In order to show their appreciation for what you’ve done here, the skinners are going to prepare him for a full body mount, it will take them the better part of what’s left of today to do this, but you did good, for everyone involved.” Said Darren. I replied to Darren, “I was just glad to be able to help those who have contributed so much to my latest African Wilderness Safari.

Africa 2001

Africa, The Dark Continent.

One of the greatest hunting destinations of all time. Since this was to be my first safari, planning was to become a year long effort. “Beginning with the end in mind”, the first order of business was to match up my check book with a reasonable trophy list and experienced outfitter.

 

I highly suggest for a first time safari hunter to consider a planes game hunt. During this hunt you will experience not only the beauty of Africa but the vast array of wildlife this content has to offer.
 

After much consideration, I finally selected Frontier Safari’s. Owned and run by Berry Burchell in the Republic of South Africa, Frontier is a top notch operation. Animals taken on the property are professionally skinned, salted and processed before they ever leave the ranch. Also, based on my experience, Barry only hires the best guides, trackers and staff. Combine all this with the huge tract of land that Barry’s family owns on which all hunting is done, you will easily have the fair chase hunting experience of a lifetime. My special thanks to the team at Cabelas Outdoor Adventures for recommending Frontier. COA is a premier hunting consultant firm that works as part of the Cabelas family of companies. They excel at helping first timers get connected with exceptional outfitters. I highly recommend them. But as with any purchase, you need to know what you’re looking for before you go shopping.

 

Prep for this hunt starts with the equipment list. Two Rifles Remington 700 Stainless Synthetic in 338 Win Mag, scope 3-9 Leupold VXII Howa lightning, full Realtree camo in 270 Win, scope Tasco 8-32 World Class Ammo Hand-loaded 338 with 250 Grain Sierra Game King (excellent performance) Hand-loaded 270 with 140 Grain Sierra Game King (also excellent performance) Note-able Additions Harris Bi-Pod and sling (used for prone long range shooting) Rockey Cornstalker Gortex boots (a must for long hikes) BackPack – Crooked Horn Trail Blazer (excellent) Laser Range finder – Bushnell 1000 yard (a must) Binoculars – Leupold wind river 8x32 (10x42 would have been better)

 

The Trophy Selection

SA Kudu, Burchell’s Zebra, Black Wildebeest, Typical and Black Springbok, Duiker, Gemsbok, Blesbok, Mountain Reedbok.

The Hunt

After 37 hours of travel, Chicago to London, London to Johannesburg, Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth then by truck to the ranch. I arrive early evening and go directly to bed. 5am comes fast brining cool weather and clear skies. Meeting me in the doorway is Andres Fox, who will start out as my professional hunter, guide and in the end become a friend with whom I will hunt again on my return. Joining me and Andres are Mike and Michael who will act as tracker and skinner for our 10 day adventure. Both are natives to this area and have finely tuned skills that only generations of development could produce. We all climb into the open back Toyota safari truck and head out in search of our first heard of game.

As Andres bumps along across the vast expanse of the ranch we discuss my goals and preference for the hunt. I express to Andres that my first priority was to take a Burchell Zebra. He explains that they are the smartest of the lot and can be the most difficult to hunt. As we approach the top of a rolling hill, we are able to see far below as the terrain rolls downward and them up again in the distance. As we scan the lowland below we can see several hundred animals scattered about but yet moving together. In contrast to north American hunting where the game is elusive and uses the thickness of the forest to remain hidden from the hunter, Africans game use both the open terrain and the other members of the heard as protection. Therefore, the trick in hunting heard animals is to first be able to pick out the ONE trophy animal (if it exists) from all of the others, agree with your PH on which one that is, then shoot only that one, put it down BEFORE it merges into the fleeing group and exits to parts unknown forever. My first thought was, boy I’m sure glad I’ve spent as many hours behind these rifles over the past years practicing. Following up on a wounded antelope out here would be a real trick.

Andres reminds me of the ranches policy regarding shot game. If you wound an animal determined by blood and or hair and the animal is unrecoverable your forfeit this trophy and the fee. If you want another one, you must pay the additional trophy fee. I really like this rule. This puts the onus on the hunter to make a good shot or not take it. These are not targets, their living breathing animals and should be respected as such.

After some careful glassing with our binoculars, Andres spots 3 nice Buchell Zebras at the back of the group. We agree on a plan since they can see the truck but are not acting too concerned since we’re about a mile away and the doors haven’t opened. We sneak out the passenger door, which is opposite the heard. Crouching to keep out of sight we move to a nearby depression that we can follow to the right an then parallel towards the heard. Side hilling off to the right of the heard we finally reach a place where we can peek over and see the zebras still intently watching the truck for any sign of danger. Between them and us is a field of belt high grass, nothing more. This will required about a 100 yard low crawl through grass that could contain any number of snakes or other surprises. Only Andres and I make our way through the grass. As I’m low crawing I can hear other things moving around us in the grass. I am poking my rifle in front of me as I proceed hoping that if something is going to strike it will hit the rifle and not me.

Finally we reach a spot where I can see the largest of the zebras from belly to ears. A perfect broadside pose. I take a half kneeling half sitting position due to the height of the grass around me. Just as I’m about to take the shot, a small male blessbok walks up to the side of the zebra and puts himself directly in the way of an easy vitals shot. It seems like an eternity before a female blessbok walks past and he follows clearing the way. Just one more step and boom…off goes the 338. Upon the shot, the entire heard takes off for parts unknown. As I recover from the recoil and come back on target, I turn to see Anders standing looking through his binoculars. Suddenly I am greeted with a back slap that nearly puts me on my face since I’m off balance half kneeling. Anders reports with a big smile, All I can see are 4 legs sticking up in the air. Nice shot, the Zebra is yours.

The 250 grain game king found its mark and cleanly entered and exited in a single instant. Now the real work begins as they say in big game hunting. Except with the two Michaels along, my work ended with the shot. They made short work of cleaning the zebra, backing up the truck and loading up. Andres returns from the truck with a bottle of Clip Drif.. a local brandy. We celebrate with a shot and bask in the glow of a well executed stalk. Hand shakes and smiles accompany us back towards camp.

As we bump back to camp I hear a thumping on the roof made by one of the two Michaels who are in the open back of the truck. Andres hits the breaks and starts to scan with his bino’s. Michael says something to Andres in their native language, he turns to me and says hurriedly, bring your rifle and follow me. Out of the truck we climb and down a hill towards a stand of what appears to be three evergreen type trees. We lay below them and can see three large Black Wildebeest about 150 yards away. Their thick black coat and powerful front shoulders make them stand out against the green grass and red soil. After a few minutes of glassing these three, Andres recommends on of the three as a excellent trophy. This time its easy shooting with a solid prone position and the aid of the harris bi-pod attached to the front sling stud of the 338. The quartering away shot is in my opinion one of the deadliest of all on large game. It takes out a cross section of the most important of all internals. Upon impact the other two scatter leaving the largest of the bulls only 20 yards from the point of impact. No tracking needed on this one.

Again Michael and Mike to their magic, load the truck and now we are returning with not one but two trophy class animals and its barely noon. How lucky can a guy get?

The next several days follow a similar profile. Up early, rumble around the vastness of the African bush and stalk the biggest and best that we come upon. This country is amazing with the sheer diversity of game. We see Ostrich, herds of blue Wildebeest flocks of Ginni fowl and much more. Over these next several days I take a record book Blessbok, two nearly matching springbok, a nearly record winning Duiker and more.

Over the past days of hunting with Andres I noticed a trend taking shape. Each animal I took was from a longer range. My Kudu was eventually taken at 384 yards. I finally asked Andres if this was part of the plan. He told me he was wondering how far I could actually shoot game. I told him that the Kudu had been my all time record, but I wasn’t sure myself. This set Andres and I on a quest for the longest single kill shot in Frontier Safari history. It finally came down to a test.

Early one morning, the four of us set out to see what my gear and I were capable of. Back in Bristol Wisconsin at my home rifle range, I had been working on a hand load for my extremely accurate Howa bolt gun in 270. The bullets were Sierra 135 grain match molly coated, chronographed at around 2800 feet per second. They could easily print 5 shots within an inch at 200 yards. I’ve shot this load in Racine WI at the 600 yard DCM range. So not only was this load tested but the hold for 600 yards was also familiar to me. Andres and the two Michaels drove me up to a ridge where we could see forever. There was another high hill just across from us. Below was a small creek that flowed between the two hills. Brush and trees lined the creek so thick that it appeared to be impassible. Across on the opposite hill side was a small group of mountain Reedbok. In the group was a nice buck. Andres and the guys had a plan. I was asked to shoot the larger more mature buck. What I didn’t know is that they wanted me to do from here. This was the challenge they were putting me up against.

Just in case you aren’t familiar, the mountain reedbok is about the size of a small goat. Realizing what I was being asked to do, I reached into my pack and powered up my Bushnell laser range finder. Making a shot at these distances without a solid range would be nearly impossible. The viewfinder found the herd and recorded a distance of 589 yards. This was comforting since this was nearly the same distance I had shot accurately in practice. Knowing that wind and temp would have an impact I was grateful that the wind was nearly still and the temp was within 10 degrees of my last range date. Confident that I would have a reasonable chance, I attached the Harris bi-pod to the rife, found a reasonably flat spot and went prone. Loading two rounds into the Howa, ensured my ability to follow up if needed. Looking through the scope at 8 power really gave me an idea how far these animals really were. Only after bringing the scope up to a full 32 power, was I actually able to place the small target dot on the vitals of the buck.

Remember, breathing control, trigger control and sight picture. These and other hard learned lessons from my many Hi-Power completion days came rushing back. This time it really meant something. Keeping perfectly still while breaking the shot was my most important concern. The slightest movement either way at this distance would result in a total miss or worse, a wounded buck nearly 600 yards away.

When the shot came, it seemed like seconds before the tiny bullet made the long trip from one side of the valley to the other. Looking thorough the scope I was able to see the impact centered on the side of the reedbok as it collapsed and tumbled 20 or so yards down the opposite hill side. Almost as surprised as I was, Andres looked at me and commented, “Mighty Impressive Shot”. Both Michael and Mike we on their feet waiving their hands in the air and cheering like attendees at a royal soccer match.

The balance of the trip went as planned. After it was all over, I was able to visit the taxidermy studio in downtown Port Elizabeth. It was very impressive. Since this was a newly opened facility, I was able to meet the taxidermist in charge who was on assignment from his home in Montana. He and his team were on site training the new staff that would eventually take over and run the studio. He was kind enough to assure me that he would personally take an interest in my 9 mounts. 4 months later the crate arrived with exceptional results and high quality work for the region. If you ever wanted to go to Africa on safari, I would highly recommend Frontier Safaris.