Up at 6:00 a.m. I awoke without an alarm. Kind of a jet lag thing I guess. Breakfast a la Germany = cold cuts, cheeses, 5 pound bread, white bread and jelly. I went into the kitchen early and made some beer biscuits. They were well accepted and no prisoners were taken. Even the little boys Janne and Xander got into the eating action.
Dax and I went out hunting with Sigi and William. Sigi is recovering from a vasectomy (kind of sore and shouldn’t exert abdominal muscles for awhile.) We drove over to an isolated pasture and found some steenbok. Dax and Sigi made a stalk while William and I didn’t want to muddy up the scents and make more noise so we stayed near the truck. Dax ended up prone off the bi-pod at 138 yards on the small target making a nice chest shot. Dax likes the small antelope species. I think it is for the novelty of the size. William and I walk over to Dax’s hunt area, we congratulated each other and took photos. Back to Farm Garib for lunch.
Lunch was oryx rib eye roast, roasted potatoes, cauliflower, tossed green salad, green beans, and delicious breads. Very nice meal. Pistachio pudding for desert. Went to rest for 1 ½ hours and then over to the main house patio for cokes and out to hunt.
We all travel out to a far pasture (valley) to look for an oryx Bounty Hunter 6 had wounded this same morning. The oryx was hit in the chest but they are tough rascals and hard to drop.We all went together -- 3 trucks, 5 hunters, 3 P.H.s, 4 trackers, and 3 dogs. We found the original spot for the first shot and the blood tracking started. The dogs helped some, the trackers were good too. We tracked blood and hoof prints for about 2.5 miles. Finally, we thought the oryx had given us the slip but Dax saw the bleeding oryx through his binoculars off to the west maybe 800 yards way. The chase was on, again. I walked about 6.8 miles this day (as per Dax’s phone) and I was thoroughly physically beat up. Sigi went to get the truck and we drove around on the road to where the oryx would have to walk across. We were all watching for it and Jorn saw it first. He made a quick sitting down shot on the injured animal and the pursuit was over. Jorn was a lieutenant in the Namibian army and was infantry so he scooted along rather well on his butt in the red sand to get a clear head shot. Kind of fun to watch. Bounty Hunter 6's oryx is tall, maybe 38” -- 39“. Nice one. The group loaded up the beast and took it to the processing barn while Dax, Sigi, William and I went out looking for a meat oryx.
We drove to the north and then parked the truck under the crest of a hill so the animals would not see it in the valley to come just a bit further north. We walked a distance maybe a kilometer from the truck into the valley and I saw an oryx on the hillside to the east of us. It was in bright view as the sun was going down and the lighting was perfect. It was 288 yards away staring at the four of us. Sigi said I should try a shot off the sticks at 288 yards. I don’t like the sticks as I don’t feel steady. I took aim and placed the shot high and a bit far back. The oryx went down and was spine shot mid-body. He could not move the back ½ of his body but was not dead yet. I loaded another round and shot over him in the rush of the moment off the sticks. Dax, in the mean time, had lowered his bi-pod legs and sat on the ground taking a very steady shot chest shot and finished off the oryx. My rifle had an overloaded round and the primer came out of the casing and it jammed the magazine feed. What the heck? I have been reloading ammo for 45 years have never had that happen before. I cleared the jam but no further shot was required. We went up on the hillside to see the prize. It was a seemingly hard hike for me. It was a nice meat oryx and I was proud of it. Dax and I did it as a team. We took photos and William brought the truck around to load the animal. Dax more or less drug the animal down the hill and we loaded him into the truck with the wench. This was kind of a bonus for the day.
Back at Garib I helped Bounty Hunter 6 shorten his .338 Win Mag ammo on Sigi’s reloading press to fit easier in the magazine of his rifle. Bounty Hunter 6 was telling Sigi “Craig knows reloading, he has written a book on it.” When people asked Bounty Hunter 6 questions on reloading he looks it up in Craig’s book and tells them the answer. They think he is brilliant. I said “You are a genius because you know where to look for the answers.”
AFTER THOUGHT: I am kind of bugged out about the over charged round today. Why? I haven’t ever had that before. I took my rifle, Darth Maul, out of the stock and cleaned everything up. I thoroughly lubed the bolt and re-assembled it all. Hoping to not have that happen ever again.
Jule and I had a philosophical conversation at lunch. She misses her dad, Hans Peter Luhl . Jule sees him all the time around the farm in improvements he made and programs he implemented. Hans Peter was a great friend to me, I also miss him.
There is little grass on Garib due to the drought.. Jule has been selling cattle and is down to 600 head of cattle from the average 2,000 head due to lack of rains and sparse grass feed. There is a pasture with pregnant cows that will have to slaughtered if the rains don’t come. Harsh conditions would kill both the cow and the calf. Better to get the cow meat than loose it all to starvation.
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