STEENBUCK AND WARTHOG . . .

Sunday 3 July 2016 up at 6 a.m.  Breakfast is a banana, scrambled eggs, 5 pound bread, and jelly.  I am so o o o o sore from the hike yesterday up the mountain.  I can hardly move at the first of the day.  We head out looking for warthog and steenbuck.  We check several pans looking for warthogs.  The only ones we see are females and they have piglets with them.  Near a spot where I shot a hartebeest a few years ago we stop and walk up a small rise to see if there is game on the other side of the big sand dune we are on.  As we near the crest of the hill Sigi sees a large steenbuck.  We duck down and Tobis and I stay back to not put any more motion or scent on the crest of the hill than necessary.  Dax and Sigi take up a shooting position and wait for a good shot.  Steenbuck are small targets and this one is about 120 yards away in tall grass.  Dax is shooting a .338 Win. Mag. and wants to minimize damage to the animal when he shoots.  We wait for a seemingly long time and finally I put my ear plugs in my ears as I am tired of holding my fingers in my ears to shield from the shot sound.  A couple of minutes more elapse and Dax and Sigi are at the ready.  Dax has his bi-pod down and is comfortable in his shooting position waiting for just the right shot.  A loud boom fills the morning stillness and Dax and Sigi pop up and walk toward the intended target.  Dax has taken a nice mature steenbuck and we all congratulate him.  We do the waidmansshiel ritual and take some photos.  Tobis guts the animal right there in the field so we can go on hunting.  The steenbuck is wrapped in a tarp to maintain its temperature and preserve the meat.  This is as big as they get and is a trophy for Dax:

location 20º41.113' S 20º32.705 E

We continue out search for a warthog, trophy kudu, and trophy oryx.  Lots of looking and stalking to the top of hills and overlooks without success.  We find two different pans that seem to be loaded with warthogs but none of them are trophy grade.  We make two real good stalks but there is no worthy game to shoot so we back out and try not to disturb the animals.  We head back to the main house for lunch.

Lunch at the Leuhl house is great.  Good springbuck roast, gravy, pasta for the gravy, tossed salad, and red beets {some how the Supreme Commander has gotten the word to Frauke to serve beets.  She loves them and thinks everyone should, plus they are "healthy".}  I eat some red beets for The Supreme Commander, not my favorite but she will be pleased.  Good food, good friends, and a nap.

3 p.m. on the patio for coffee {diet coke} and cookies.  Conversation shifts to socialism, Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, to the English leaving the EU.  A great exchange of ideas until the two little boys start a ruckus and we head out to hunt again.

Looking for warthogs particularly.  Spot some but no boars.  At dusk and the sun is going down we spot a "pig" and Dax and Sigi go on a 4 - 500 yard stalk on it.  They are really careful to not move to quick, to stay in the wind just right, and keep some brush between them and the intended target.  They work on the "pig" for about 20 minutes while Tobis and I watch from a far.  Dax gets to within 35 yards of the animal and realizes it is an aardvark and not a warthog.  They fellows turn and walk back to the truck while Tobis and I wonder why they did not shoot.  We suppose in the low light of sundown it was a sow.  Joke was on us all.  Back to the farm house.

Dinner is cold cuts, cheeses, focaccia bread and really good.  We sit by the fire after dinner and exchange ideas, tell stories, and really enjoy the evening.  I could get into this type life.