Waiting. . . . Waiting so long it seems . . .

I am so anxious to go hunt chizzlers.  {I really am evil at heart I guess.}  Today the little vermin are sleeping off the cold old winter but I want to go hunt them RIGHT NOW!  I hope my pals and fellow reapers are able to withstand the urge better than I can.

Happy New Year and best wishes to you and yours.

HUNTING FOR MULE DEER 2016

Mule deer hunting in November with a rifle during the start of the rut is way fun.  There are lonesome bucks around all the small groups of does with fawns and the bucks are rather preoccupied.  They don't seem to give a "buck snort" for humans in the area.  I have never done this before and feel fortunate to have had the opportunity at least once in my hunting career.  I had about 5 bonus points for mule deer hunting and I applied for a CWMU {Cooperative Wildlife Management Unit} tag via the State of Utah drawing process.  I drew the tag in late summer and really didn't know what I had.  My son called to congratulate me.  He is a professional wildlife biologist had a lots better appreciation for my good fortune in tag drawing.  We made plans to go hunt together in the late fall.  I love it when he comes.  His eyes are younger and sharper, he is great at cleaning, packing, and handling the downed game, he is a great conversationalist, and he is an excellent camp cook. Not to mention he is one of my sons and I love my boys with all my heart.

I took my camping/hunting trailer to N39º41.368 and W109º39.883 on October 31, 2016 and we set up camp.  On the dirt road journey into the camping spot we saw several bucks along the side of the less than perfect dirt road we were traveling.  They were watching us but they didn't run away and hide.  I was getting really excited.  The bucks we saw were kind of smallish -- 2x2's and 2x3's mostly.  I did see one 3x4 that had an impressive rack and was rather mature.  I was starting to scratch my trigger finger.

Camp was great. We had stopped at WalMart in Vernal, Utah and bought some important supplies.  I came out of the store with fixings for great meals for 4 or 5 days.  Dax is always thinking ahead.  I usually eat ramen noodles and MRE's when I hunt alone.  The first night in the camper we had shrimp with alfredo sauce over garden pasta with a crusty french bread.  Flan for dessert.  The meal was great.  I learned the shrimp idea from my son and his pal Clint S.  They like to start a new tradition of having shrimp on the first night of a hunting camp.

Tuesday, November 1, 2016 we were off early to hunt for the BIG ONE.  We almost immediately saw several mule deer bucks in various groups following dozens of does as we had the day before on the drive into the area. We saw two young bucks, 2x2's, butting heads and sparing with each other.  We saw a couple of 2x2's bucks that were all alone and wondering "What are these strange sensations I have?"  "Why do I want to smell the does and then get near to them?" We saw a mature buck with rack full of character a 6x7 or so and he was chasing a hot doe.  We watched him for a few minutes and decided it was just the first morning and there are probably others that are even bigger around if we continue to scout for them.  We drove on looking for the best big old boy we could find.  We did see other deer.  Some of the bucks were nice.  I took my rifle out of the case and put the crosshairs on a couple of them but never pulled the trigger.  We saw two coyotes late in the afternoon and I wanted to shoot the walking $50 bills* but I didn't want to scare off any potential big bucks so I held back.  We saw an extremely large badger moving quickly over a short mountain near us.  We watched him go up and over post haste. The badger was maybe as big as a doe mule deer yet with shorter legs.  Finally at dark we went back to camp and had another great meal.  To sleep early as we were hunting and would get up early.  All in all, a great day with my son hunting.  Lots of game and really uniquely spectacular scenery.  The geological formations were very interesting and beautiful in the sunset lighting.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016 we were up early, hot chocolate and a cinnamon raisin bagel then off to hunt.  I had been thinking about the 6x7 buck we saw the day before and I told my son if we see him again I want to shoot at him.  He is kind of special with all the trash points on his rack.  My son agreed and said "It's your tag".  We drove toward the east from camp and came across four fellows in a Yukon just out looking at deer.  They were not hunting, they were just taking photos.  As we passed in the road the driver motioned us to stop.  My son was driving and the two drivers started to talk. They could see my orange vest and the Yukon guys knew I was hunting.  They said they had seen a 6x7 that was way "cool" and I should be on the look out for it.  My son told them we had seen the buck the day before and we were looking for it again.  The Yukon scouts told us to go look near a oil drilling well pad up the road where they had seen it about an hour earlier.  They wished us well and good luck.  We started out towards the direction indicated.

Eventually arriving at the well pad area we saw several does and fawns {like over 20 head}.  There were no bucks to be seen.  We scouted around and then got out the glass.  We glassed for sometime without results.  The bucks seemed to be at a "convention" somewhere other than here. We drove south a mile or so and continued to glass without success.  It was still early and I was sure we would eventually see some type of buck as there were so many does around the general area.  We started to retrace our path back towards the oil well pad and my son saw Mr. Wonderful.  He was keeping a low profile and just out of the junipers moving east away from us at about 250 yards.  We quickly walked towards him to get a better look.  We used some lone junipers to walk behind to shield us from the buck's line sight.  We worked our way to as close as we could while still behind the juniper screen.  We both looked out from behind the last large juniper tree, Dax on one side me on the other, at the buck that was now 165 yards away. I said "That's him I am going to shoot."  I worked the bolt on my .300 Win. Mag. and took a sight picture in a standing position. Not my best position for accurate shooting.  I pressed the trigger and shot high.  {I will now call that my "warning shot"}.  I shot high enough the buck didn't really run fast away.  He continued to move to the east and some north.  I sat down in the sage brush and using my knees a rests I held my rifle on the buck's vitals from a quartering away angle.  I figured the bullet would take out his liver and also his lungs at this range.  I pressed the trigger ever so gently and the rifle boomed and the buck jumped and he was done.  He took maybe 10 steps north east and fell over in the junipers.

It took us a moment to recognize all that had happened in just a few short minutes.  We located the big buck and stalked him and shot him in about 4 or 5 minutes.  That is how it happens many times when hunting. You look for hours and days then when the moment comes it all happens so fast.  I am so thankful for my son and the opportunity to be with him on this special hunt.  We went over and took some photos.  Then we drove the truck as close as we could and loaded him on the back for transport to camp.  What a great hunt!  I have been blessed so much from Heaven.  I have enough health to go hunting, enough luck to draw a tag, and sons who like to be with me in the field.

{The meat is not bad either.}  *Utah has a $50 bounty on coyotes taken in deer areas.

CHIZZLER REVENGE . . .

I found this news article and thought it a reasonable warning for people traveling through chizzler infested areas of our country. Be warned ISIS isn't the only danger out there.

PONDERING THE FUTURE AND REMEMBERING THE PAST

I am just worn out. Been working way too hard for such an old man.  Tearing out the  carport for my son and then will build a garage to protect him and the little rascals from the snow and cold in the coming winter months.  Had a great meal (thanks to my dear daughter-in-law), welcome shower, and resting of course my mind wonders off to hunting.  I am going to elk camp this weekend with my grandson.  He has the tag, his dad and I have the "fever" so we must take him and help him find an elk on the special youth hunt tag he drew.  The fall season in the quakies at 8,000+ feet elevation and the cool air is just invigorating.  Then when you hear an elk bugle it all turns to magic in the mountains.

I also am thinking about hunting chizzlers in Iron County, Utah.  I found a photo of Fred and Mabel Chizzler as they have their last kiss before the long winter's nap.  I wonder which will be the first to come out in the early spring and smile at me in my cross-haired viewfinder.  You know what I mean. . . .

LAST HUNTING DAY IN NAMIBIA 2016

Up at 6:40 a.m. -- breakfast of scrambled eggs (the chickens are no longer on strike), 5 pound bread, banana and out to hunt with Hans Peter my dear old friend.  He is a great guide and he is even better friend.  Sigi the primary P.H. has to repair an electric water pump so he had his other Guide/P.H./Father-In-Law go with us today.  I love it.

We make a big circle around the farm in the truck looking for any thing we might have missed in days earlier.  We cover lots of pastures and camps and pans and watering areas and see a multitude of game.  I am still in the mood to take a warthog and/or an oryx.  Dax is ready for almost anything we can find.  Hans Peter takes us to a high point where we can see some oryx and kudu grazing in the distance with our binoculars. They are about 2 kilometers away in a lower part of the hilly section we are in.  We calculate a stalk and work our way to within reasonable range.  The kudu have grazed off and are out of sight.  The oryx are grazing back and forth across a two track road. 

The oryx have trees on both sides of the two track and can easily get invisible in the dense brush and trees within one step from either side of the road way.  There is a fence on the right hand side of the road way as we look down the semi-"tunnel" in the trees concurrent with the two track road.  Peter says we can set up on the sticks here and wait for a good meat oryx to come out.  The wind is cross wise and I worry it will change or swirl and poof -- the oryx are gone.  I am in position on the sticks and watching as oryx come under the fence and across the two track road.  They seem to move quickly across the road.  I laser the distance and it is 180 yards to the place where the oryx are most actively moving.  The oryx seem to cross the road from the fence to the cover of the brush in about one to two seconds.  I tell Hans Peter I need to know in advance if the oryx coming is going to be a shooter.  He says he will tell me and is watching from a different angle behind me to my right as the oryx come one by one up to the fence and go under.  He tells me wait not this one too small, not this one, and finally after 5 or 6 oryx come and go so quickly he says the next one is a strong one.  I am ready and I see the beautiful multicolored head and horns come into the road way.  The bull oryx is walking briskly to my left across the road.  I take aim at his heart and press the trigger on the .338 Win. Mag.  The boom of the rifle going off is magnified by the tunnel effect of the trees.  The oryx jumps and disappears in the trees on the left side of the road.  Dax says did you hit him?  I say lets go see.  I really had such a short window of aim and trigger control I have my doubts.  I do remember hearing the slap of the bullet hit something though.  I have Dax go up 35 yards or so on the small hill to the left so he can see if the oryx is wounded and limping away from a higher vantage point.  Dax can finish him if he is trying to get away.

Tobis and I go down the road quickly to where the oryx disappeared into the thick brush and trees and we find blood.  A very good sign.  I walk about 10 yards to the left of where we found blood and there he is -- almost dead.  I shoot another round through his lungs and it is over.  Dax comes to us at the shot.  Dax pays me a big compliment and says "I don't think I could have made that first shot dad."  I am more than please with this whole oryx adventure.   We take some photos and congratulate each other on another successful hunt.  Waidmannsheil, etc.  Peter is really a pal. 

Location 23º05.211 S 17º38.104 E

Darth Maul and Dax's rifle both Ruger .338 Win. Mag.

Where it all happened

We load up the oryx and head back to the main farm house to eat lunch.  Lunch is a springbok roast in pan sauce gravy, baked potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and tossed salad.  Chocolate pudding for dessert.  Food is excellent as usual.  After lunch I go for a 50 minute nap.

After the nap and the coffee break we head over to the Valley of Death area.  We see some oryx, springbok, and two kudu bulls.  Nothing to shoot at though as they are all younger animals.  We drive to various locales and Dax with Hans Peter go on a kudu stalk but don't find a suitable animal.  We travel more to the east and see what we think are wildebeest.  Craig and Tobis go for a stalk on them as the sun is going down.  It gets dark real fast in Namibia.  As Tobis and I get close to the wildebeest the darkness has enveloped us all, maybe 250 yards.  Dax and Hans Peter can see us due to their angle and Dax is using his laser range finder to calculate how close we get to the wildebeest before we shoot.  Tobis and I get very close, like 100 yards, and Tobis says can you shoot now.  I look through my scope and can't pick out an aiming point on the larger of the two wildebeest it is so dark.  Tobis and I take note of the wind and stalk even closer.  I try to see to shoot and it is just so dark all I can see is black with hints of light in the upper half in my scope.  Tobis is not mad just sincere in his desire to get me a shot so we stalk even closer.  I laser the animals and we are 38.7 yards from the wildebeest and I still cannot get a sight picture on the game.  I tell Tobis it is just too dark and I don't want to wound one.  I respect the game too much to try a blind shot.  There is no heavenly light due to hardly any moon light and significant cloud cover.  I have to use my flash light to walk safely back to Dax and Hans Peter.  Dax and Hans Peter had watched the whole stalk from about 1000 yards and were surprised I didn't shoot.  We got a big laugh together when I didn't shoot.  I guess I am getting very old.  I think Tobis could see well enough, I however was "in the dark".

We head back to the farm house for dinner.  Dinner is sausages, ham, cheeses, great breads, water, olives, and lots of jokes.  We sit around the fire and tell jokes for some time.

Frauke is back at Farm Garib and we all get together at the main house to watch Germany play France in the Eurocup soccer tournament.  I meet Heinrick and Uma the son and daughter-in-law of Hans Peter and Frauke.  They are really nice people too.  I go off to bed at half time.

Wed. 8 July 2016 we are to head home.  In the morning Dax and I offer to make chocolate eclairs for the host group before we leave to the airport.  They have never had eclairs so we get after it and make a fine batch of eclairs with home made custard filling and chocolate topping fabricated from chocolate chips and yogurt and a small shot of Tabasco.

Work in progress

All in all I have had another wonderful trip to Namibia.  Great friends, great food, and lots of game.  I am totally satisfied.  I wonder when I will be back to hunt on Farm Garib or with Sigi again?  Soon I hope.  These are great people.

LOTS OF HUNTING, NO HARVESTING . . . THEN A PARTY

We get up early as usual.  Breakfast at 7 a.m. is a banana, 4 pieces of toast and out to hunt.  No scrambled eggs today as Farm Garib is all out.  The chickens are not obliging.  There is not a store within 20 kilometers to buy some, so we eat what we have available.  Sigi is not big on breakfast anyway.  He usually just has coffee while we eat.  He has so much energy -- great for a P.H. 

We are looking for the broken horned kudu with the bad leg.  We journey through the farm to where we saw it last, in the Valley of Death.  I have taken a trophy springbok over there, and Dax has taken a blue wildebeest as well.  We set up on the different hill sides and watch the entire valley for possible animals.  Dax, Sigi, and Tobis go on a marathon stalk  clear across the valley to the mountains on the other side.  I watch for anything that kicks out in front of them in the veld.  Some springbok and oryx are running around but I don't see any kudu or wildebeest.  I was kind of hoping to see a blue wildebeest and I would go after it.

Dax and Sigi get on to a trophy kudu bull.  They chase it back and forth between the tall brush, short trees, and various swells in the ground with little hideout ravines.  The bull makes its way to the boundary fence of Farm Garib and jumps on to the next farm southwards.  Sigi has no hunting rights on that particular farm so the trio turns around and head back toward me.  I think they are at least two miles away. 

Out of nowhere a reasonable oryx bull starts to run.  He must have been excited by the kudu bull running and jumping the fence so he starts to run with fervor yet no real reason.  He runs directly toward Dax and Sigi.  Sigi says to Dax to take him for meat and Dax is happy to agree.  The oryx runs almost directly toward Dax and he later says he shot it in "self-defense."  One .338 Win. Mag. round and it is down.  The hunters are so far away I don't even hear the shot while watching for animals on my assigned hill top.  They photo the event and clean and quarter the animal.  Oryx is extremely good meat and we are all excited to have more of it.  It is a nice representative bull but not really a mountable trophy.

Approx. location 23º12.748 S 17º37.874 E

Tobis is sent to get me and the truck and hikes all the way back.  Too bad we didn't have radios and I could have driven over with a lat. and long. directions to go for.  Even with four of us it is lots of hot work to get the meat out.  On the hike out with the meat Dax finds some juvenile kudu horns and skull.  It is of an animal that was killed or died in the same canyon as the oryx a long time before.

Leopard or Cheetah lunch horns

Back to main farm house late as we have been packing out oryx meat.  Lunch is rice and springbok straganoff.  Delicious.  I know we are working pretty hard to get the game and pack it out.  We are very hungry most afternoons and the food is really first rate here.  I am way impressed with how good it all tastes and how it is prepared using local and natural ingredients.  {I could really get used to being around here and living like this.}  We all go for a short nap then back to the patio for coffee at 4 p.m.

We go pick up the trail camera from the leopard kill on the calf.  The photos reveal a female cat.   Dang, if it were a male Sigi could get a tag from the local national biologist and charge some hunter $10,000 for the opportunity to hunt a big tom.  We go back to Farm Garib and prep to visit the other P.H.'s and have the "hunter's campfire" we were invited to.  Leaving as the sunsets we travel across Farm Garib and the main road then enter the other farm.  It takes us about 20 minutes to get there.

When we arrive at the other farm, Farm Girib (jackal) I am introduced to several fellows.  The are all really kind to me and Dax.  My son and I are the only non-professionals there.  I will list their names with the photos below. 

Volker Ahrens, Herman Jonker, Gernot Ahrens, Dax, Ronnie Roland, Sigi Hess

These guys stay up late, have a few toasts, and joke and relate stories of hunting from the perspective of a P.H.  I am just amazed at the years of experience seated around the table.  We are eating warthog chops cooked over a bar-b-que grill.  The food is great and the conversation is fabulous.  Ronnie Roland* takes a shine to me and starts to give me advice on hunting, women, and politics.  He goes on and on for over an hour.  I am totally entertained.  He is really a character.  You can't help but like the guy.  We mount up in the pickup truck and start for the bunkhouse, Sigi has ask me to drive.  I say, "OK, if you tell me where to go."  It is now quite dark and we are 20 minutes from the comfort of my bed through a variety of fences on dirt roads.  I drive very carefully and we arrive back home again jiggity, jigg.  Great evening!

*Ronnie was the president of the Professional Hunter's Association.  He is a publish author and really a hoot.  Google his name and check out some of his links.

HARTEBEEST BEFORE SUNDOWN . . .

We had a brief nap after the zebra steak feast.  I was so hungry and it tasted so good, I just kept after it.  I had breakfast at around 6:30 a.m.  Lunch of zebra filet cooked over open fire at 2 p.m. after walking and hunting all morning it was wonderful.  I was hurting and in heaven at the same time, kind of neat place to be.

We saddled up in the trusty Toyota and we went out after something before sundown, leaving the main house around 4 p.m.  We were traveling along on a rather bumpy road on the east side of the farm and we saw a small herd of hartebeest.  We had been after hartebeest already this week but had been busted by scent on two occasions.  Sigi parked the truck behind some big bushes and we went into stealth mode.  I even tried to breathe lightly so as not to cloud the air with a predators' zebra breath.  We were busted on our first stalk but on the second one we got to within 260 yards.  I put up my bi-pod and sat down for steady shooting.  I waited for Sigi to tell me which one and he told me to take an older meat cow.  I held steady with the crosshairs about 4 inches above where I wanted the bullet to strike.  I pressed the trigger on my .338WM and bam -- instant hartebeest on the ground.  She dropped to the shot and I quickly reloaded and was waiting for her to try and get back up.  She wriggled some and Sigi said hit it again.  I promptly shot it again in the chest cavity.  It was down for the biltong count.

location 23º12.211' S 17º44.538' E

SIDE NOTE:  Just to remind everyone biltong is dried meat that is absolutely delicious.  It has coriander seed and pepper on it with very little salt.  It is cured in the air like jerky but not near as salty nor half as tough and chewy.  I really like biltong and am glad to have it whenever anyone offers.  It is more like a portable meal than a snack.

biltong being dried

We take photos and head back to the Farm Garib.  We are treated to a fire in the fire pit , good conversation, dinner of springbok medallions, macaroni, gravy, green beans, and pudding.  Nice to visit with Sigi over dinner.  Man am I tired.  I don't think I will be able to get up tomorrow with out the assistance of the paramedics and their heart shocking machine, "all clear" . . . .  To put it like Sigi, "I sleep like a nail" whatever that means?