We are up at 6:10 a.m. and have a breakfast of rusk, yogurt, banana, and homemade donuts. {The cook is trying to show off with donuts and it is working!}
We are out to hunt at 7:00 a.m. We see many animals mostly black wildebeest and springbok. Finally around 9:00 a.m. we see a group of 15 or so zebra. They are Burchell {Equus Burchelli} or plains zebra native to the Kalahari desert and a fine stallion zebra is in the group. We go on the stock. Stalking are Loki, the assistant guide, Berger the P.H., and myself. We have been looking for a zebra for three days and have a) not been able to get close enough for a shot while stocking or b) there hasn't been a mature stallion in the groups we have found. We follow the zebra herd on foot and try to get ahead of the wind and the herd for about 1.5 kilometers. Finally, we are in position as the zebra are crossing a small clearing maybe 50 yards wide and I take one .338 Win. Mag. shot off the sticks at a lazered 92 yards. I hear the Barnes 225 grain triple shock bullet impact the beast but the P.H. says maybe I had missed the shot. I know it was a hit and I don't argue; we just walk toward where the zebra had been standing and look for blood. We find lots of blood and some lung tissue in the grass. My hunting pal Ken, and the tracker, Andres, heard the shot and drive up in the pickup truck within a few minutes. The P.H. takes a smoke break and waits for the hit zebra to settle down or expire. Ken tells me he has seen lung tissue before both from animals and from men in the Vietnam war. None of them survived very long after a hit to the lungs. Ken wagers we will find the zebra within 100 to 200 yards of the original shooting location. Loki starts tracking on the blood spore, we all fall in behind and try to keep quiet. We track teh blood trail a short distance and indeed we find the zebra lying dead in some brush within 200 yards of the place he was shot. He is balled up in some 7 foot tall brush/trees on an escape trail that the herd had taken when startled at the sound of my shot.
We take lots of photos with the animal and I get a GPS mark for my records.
GPS: South 21º37.591 East 17º10.063 elevation 4,924 feet
It takes all four of us to load the zebra into the back of the pickup truck. The zebra is really heavy, like 800 pounds or so. The locals eat the tasty meat and I want the tanned hide for a trophy. Nothing will go to waste from this fine old animal. We head back to the farm house in the truck and it is really great to have finally scored a success on a zebra.
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