HUNTING NAMIBIA 2016

It all started last summer, 2015.  In April 2015 I was diagnosed with cancer under the skin on my head and left neck.  I had to undergo surgeries on three different occasions then chemotherapy and radiation therapy.  Needless to say I was a rather sick puppy from April 2015 to about February 2016.  I lost about 35 pounds total during the ordeal.  Not that I couldn't have used some lightening up, but loosing weight via surgery (cutting off flesh) then chemo and radiation is not pleasant.  {Next time I need to loose weight I am going to hire a real cute female personal trainer and join a gym.}  All the weeks I was vomiting in my darkened room in the basement I was thinking about my happy place.  We all have one.  Mine is on Farm Garib in Namibia hunting plains game with my dear friends the Leuhls.  I promised myself if I survived this treatment and the disease I would go hunting again across the sea.

February 2016 came around and I was actually feeling some better.  I was thankful to the Lord I might be on the mend.  My PET scan had shown no identifiable cancer and I was able to eat and drink a little.  I went on the internet and started looking for air tickets to Namibia.  I contacted my Namibian friends via e-mail and they said come on over -- late June or early July.  I asked my son, Dax, if he had time to go with me to hunt for 10 days or so.  Kind of like asking a little kid if he were in the mood for a candy bar but still I ask.  Dax had some comp. time and some vacation saved up so we were a pair to go.  I got the tickets on South African Airlines with USA connections via Jet Blue and Virgin Air.  South African is a top notch firm and Jet Blue -- blaah and Virgin Air -- sucks.  Next time I won't use Virgin Air.

Wed. 29 June 2016 Dax and I rode the Salt Lake Express shuttle to the Las Vegas Airport, boarding at 6 p.m.  The shuttle ride was nice and comfortable.  We checked in for our flights.  We left Las Vegas at midnight.  We traveled through the night to NYC and JFK then on to Johannesburg and finally to Windhoek arriving at around 11:00 a.m. on Thurs. 30 June 2016.  We had been on the airplane for a seemingly very long time.  Waiting at the airport for us was my brother from another mother, Hans Peter Leuhl.  What a friendly face and such a fun guy to meet us at the end of a long and exhausting trip.  We loaded up in his SUV and went over to his home to see his better half.  Frauke, is a first rate person and has been a great friend to me for almost 10 years.  It was really fun to be with them in their home again.  They traveled to my home in 2014 to visit and it was my turn to visit them  What a fun time we were going to have for 10 days or so. 

Peter and Frauke are kind of retired from farming and hunting so they live in town.  We drove out from town to the farm to start the hunting adventure.  We arrived on Farm Garib at about 5 p.m.  {Look at Google Earth to see the area with lat. and long. as:    23º08.078'S  17º37.976'E}

Our Professional Hunter, PH, Sigurd Hess, Sigi, was waiting in the drive when we pulled up.  It was nice to see him again.  He has helped me hunt before and is really a super nice fellow and great PH.  He constantly is cracking jokes and speaks 4 or 5 languages equally well.  He is quite a guy.  Not to mention he is 37 years old and really hyper -- like a teenager.  He always has energy to go out and do what needs to be done.  He is the kind of guy I like to have around to take care of my old weary bones.  I am not that tough any more.  I kind of get tired and can't see or hear as well as I used to.  Sigi, takes my failings into account when he helps me hunt, I really can't commend him enough.  He is fun, fair, and professional  --  what else is there in a PH or friend for that matter.  Did I mention he has an educated, hardworking, nice, and beautiful wife and two great sons?

Sigi the cook, Sigi on the upper P/U rack scouting, Sigi amigo

The stage is set.  The characters are all present.  The game is waiting for us to come find them.  I can hardly wait until tomorrow to start the adventure I have been thinking about for so many months.  We are given a real nice dinner of oryx steaks, gravy, pasta, tossed salad, cheese, superb bread, and sodas.  The food is so good at Farm Garib I think a significant percentage of why I keep going back is the food.  Evelyn is the cook when there are hunters on the farm.  She remembers me and gives me a sincere hug.  She is just like so many people in Namibia and especially on Farm Garib -- really friendly and pleasant to be around. We eat well and get to bed.  Tomorrow we go hunting!

BIG TRIP TO NAMIBIA

Just back from a BIG trip to Namibia hunting. I still have jet-lag to degree but it hurts so good. Kind of a pre-view type photo for up coming posts.

High Ho, High Ho, . . It's Off to Chizzle I Go ! !

I disappeared out of work a few hours on Monday afternoon and went to meet with the Southern California contingent of Chizzler Hunters Anonymous.  We got together on the western edge of a circular and proceeded to mow down some crop stealers in wholesale fashion.  Bill and Brad are find shots and seem to know the ropes in chizzler reaping.  Basically, the idea is to 1.  Take no prisoners, and 2. Try for doubles to conserve ammunition when possible.  Here is a photo of the fine chaps from Shamu Town.

Preparing to reap.

88 yards from the squirrel-o-matic

MR. BOB ENDS HIS CHIZZLER SEASON

Trying to make it to cover . . .  too late

On Friday, 6-3-2016 I went to Enterprise at 8:10 a.m. to join up with Mr. Bob and go for his last chizzler hunt of the year.  He had to return home within the next 24 hours.   I was hoping this was going to be great event for him and me.  The conditions were more or less perfect for hunting varmints.  The weather was in the mid  to lower 80º's and there was little or no wind.  The sun was out but it wasn't overly hot.  I could feel it was going to be a great day for hunting farmers' profit stealers.   Not to mention -- I had been working all week and as I have said many times: WORK GETS IN THE WAY OF HAVING FUN!

When I arrived in the parking lot of the motel where Mr. Bob stays I was greeted not only by my dear friend Mr. Bob but also there were 5 other fellows there.  The were fine looking chaps about my age and I was pretty sure they were chizzlers hunters as well.  When I exited my truck I announced to them I was from PETA and wanted to take all their names.  The was a round of laughter at my foolishness.  Turns out they were indeed avid chizzler hunters from Southern California.  They had come up for a few days to help the farmers in Iron County eliminate profit eaters and thusly put away a significant pile of chizzlers.  I was glad to meet them and we were brothers in arms almost instantly.  The majority of them were firemen or retired firemen.  I have a "warm" place in my heart for firemen.  Bounty Hunter 6 and Mr. Bob are both firemen.  They risk their lives at work for you and yours and even your property.  They are not paid enough nor given enough respect.  One fellow was a beverage distributor and I am glad to make his acquaintance also.  They were all great guys.  Sorry they had to leave for home so quick.  I would like to have hunted with them this year.  Maybe we can connect next season.  I need to watch their style and learn some new tricks in reaping chizzlers.

Mr. Bob and I went to a new circular pivot spot and set up the Reaper Trailer.  We got into the squirrel-o-matics at around 8:35 a.m. and the rodent targets came out for their morning constitutionals.  Mr. Bob and I started to deny them their "constitutional rights" and administer to them "last rites."  I shot as fast as I dared always concentrating on breathing, trigger control, sight alignment, and follow through.  I was counting hits out loud as was Mr. Bob for the first while.  I racked up 46 hits out of my first 50 shots.  Not that my shooting was extra special, just the targets were slow moving, pausing lots allowing for my dead-rest target hold, and really not that far away.  I actually took 5+ chizzlers with my .22 handgun.  They were so close I could shoot them over open iron sights with my almost legally blind eyes, like 5 to 9 yards out from the Reaper Trailer.

Most of the brass fired

I only talked to Mr. Bob while we loaded magazines.  I was amazed at how many chizzlers there were in the small section of the circular we were hunting.  There was actually almost no alfalfa growing in the area as it had all been eaten by the chizzlers.  Mr. Bob and I agreed we had never had shooting like this before.  The Reaper Trailer with the squirrel-o-matics on top makes for a super platform to see and shoot from.  I calculate we were firing from a height of about 8 feet above the ground.  We had a distinct advantage as to visibility and angle of pursuit.  I have shot 1,000's of chizzlers from the bed of my pickup truck using a squirrel-o-matic over the years but the extra 4 feet of elevation afforded by the Reaper Trailer is perfect.  We shot and loaded magazines and shot some more.  We were taking down hundreds of chizzlers and more just kept coming.  Bounty Hunter 6 has told me about situations like this he has enjoyed but I had never experienced one for my self.  It was amazing.  I fired over 500 rounds in the 3.5 hours we were hunting.  Think about loading magazines, firing through a bolt action and using over 500 rounds in 3.5 hours.  It was quick and it was terminal for hundreds of chizzlers. 

Head shot while trying to peak out

Camp fire meeting, notice no alfalfa

I was shooting a .22 LR and Mr. Bob was shooting a .17HMR.  We both use Savage rifles.  Mine is a Mark II heavy barrel with a Burris 4.5-14X 42mm scope.  Mr. Bob shoots a Savage M93 stainless in .17 HMR with a Leupold VX-2 3-9X 40mm scope.  I like the Burris scope as it has stadia lines on the vertical crosshair for different distances.  The rifle is sighted in to hit dead center at 50 yards.  The first stadia line is for 75 yards, the second one for 100 yards, and the third is for 125 yards.  The scope works well for me.  The rifle is accurate and if I do my part the mechanism is exact.  When I miss I know where the fault lies, and it is not with glass or steel.

Mr. Bob is gone home for now.  Bounty Hunter 6 is fighting fire in Alaska. I am here by myself and accompanied only by those who can steal some time to help the agriculturalists in Iron County.  It is a tough job but someone has to do it.  I volunteer.

THEY JUST KEEP COMING . . . AND COMING . . .AND COMING . . .

Memorial Day 2016 -- I took the morning off and met up with Mr. Bob at his Chizzler Reaper trailer in Iron County, Utah.  He and I started the adventure at around 8:30 a.m.  The chizzlers were already there in scrambling around big time numbers waiting for us, and eating lots of alfalfa.  We loaded our .22 LR caliber rifles and started to "reap" them in vast quantities.  Bob and I went straight to work.  We didn't really get to chat and reminisce of olden days reaping chizzlers.  We were surrounded by targets and the more we shot, it seemed, the more they came up out of their underground hides (condos).

Bob is all business.

103 Yards from the squirrel-o-matic

A whole condo complex taken out.

We shot for 2 1/2 hours.  I kept loading my 3 magazines (2 ea. 10 round and 1ea. 5 round) and then would concentrate on each individual shot.  Focus for the shot, hold on the appropriate stadia line on the vertical crosshair, allow for Kentucky windage if necessary,  hold breath, press trigger consistently and follow through.  I was hitting the critters at from 10 to 134 yards with good consistency, over 70% I think.   I was not there to waste ammunition -- I was there to waste chizzlers.  Chizzlers were being reaped by the dozens.  Bob and I finally had to take a break at around 10:30 a.m.  The number or potential targets had not subsided to any great degree, but our fingers were sore from loading magazines and my scope eye was tired and needed a rest.  {You probably don't understand scope eye tired, but hours of concentrated eye use behind a spotting scope looking for game or targeting chizzlers while hunting will make your eye rather fatigued.  Actually, it is a lovely experience.}

I took a few old Herd Bulls in my efforts.  They are big targets but they don't go down easy to a 22 LR.  I had to head shoot some of  the monster chizzlers to anchor them.  I like to get the old ones out of the gene pool.  They are too big, they eat too much, and they have an attitude.  They seem to think they are wearing tiny kevlar vests or something.  They come and go as they please in their world, they knock around the smaller chizzlers, and they are cannibals.  Yes, they eat the dead ones or almost dead ones that are shot in their proximity.

red outline for cannibals

By 11:30 a.m. I was exhausted. My trigger finger has a slight blister, my shooting eye is exhausted, and I was more or less, out of ammo.  I had fired 300+ rounds of 22 LR.  I congratulated Bob on a wonderful shoot.  I packed up my gear.  I took these photos.  I drove home.  What a day !

A HUNTER---ING WE WILL GO !

My grandson and I went up to Iron County to help the farmers again.  Monday morning, 5-23-2016, we did our duty for agriculture and for "fun".  Hunter is a pretty darn good shot.  He harvested several dozen of the little profit eaters.  YES, I was/am proud of him.  He is a great kid {straight "A" student, honorable Deacon at church, active Boy Scout, great poet, helps with whatever job around the house or work project . . .} and a good shot, what else is there?  {Hopefully, someday he will learn to cook as well as his dad.}

HERD BULLS

I have been trying to get up to Iron County to hunt chizzlers as often as work will allow.  The major problem is: work won't allow it enough !  I always tell my friends, and family, and anyone who will listen, that "work gets in the way of having fun."  I did manage to get away on Monday, 5-16-16, and hunt for about two hours.  Unfortunately, in mid morning the weather started to go against me -- dark clouds, wind, and the rain started to fall.  I left the field of extermination way before I was ready {I actually still had some ammo.} and went back to work in Santa Clara.  I did manage to shoot about 200 chizzlers in the short time I was there.  The farmers are so glad to have the crop eating demons out of their economic picture.  I haven't written too much about my hunting adventures of late, sorry.  Maybe some photos will make up for my absence in cyber space. ?

Gang of chizzlers and one herd bull.

95 yards from the truck and they thought they were out of range.

Spy looking out of hole left me only a head shot.

2 herd bulls with a pistol to give relative size idea.