And the Hunting Begins...

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Hunting in Africa is like nothing I've experienced (granted I don't have many hunts under my belt). It just felt so surreal to be walking along and have the PH (personal hunter) point out lion tracks. No big deal.

Here's what a typical hunting day looked like: Wake up at 6AM, choke down toast and bananas at 6:30AM, be on the road at 7AM, drive anywhere from 30-60 minutes to get to the hunting concession (aka lease). Depending on the lease, set-up shop in a blind or drive around hoping to sneak up on the big one or get out and stalk animals on foot. 9AM snack pack time, 11:30 head for a shady spot to eat lunch, 1-2 PM try to take a nap in the dirt, on the truck... wherever to wait out the heat of the day. 3-6 PM get back to the hunting. 7:30 dinner followed by campfire story telling. 10 PM bed.

Of course there were some slight variations of the schedule, but for the most part that's what we did for 7 days and it was way more fun than I ever expected. Seriously. Steph and I thought we'd hang back at the lodge a couple days, but we ended up hunting with the boys every single day!

Just for the record, I feel like I'm going to have to post something uber girlie and feminine after posting hunting pictures for the next couple days.

Forewarning, if you don't want to see animals (before and AFTER) please read at your own risk-- there is some blood shown below!!

Here's what our first day looked like:

Hunting from the back of the truck. Now you see 2 Eland...

Now you don't see 2 Eland. Because...

Ross has a good shot. Thumbs up from Robby. You can't tell, but it's the early morning on our first day. I couldn't believe Ross shot an Eland after only 30 minutes!

I learned that 2/3 down and 1/3 up is a good shot.

This is the hunting crew we rode with: 2 PH's and 3 trackers. Good thing bc it took everyone to get that Eland right side up!

I learned pretty quickly to avoid all the trees. Yep, they sting. And the barbs have a little toxin on them to make it burn and feel way worse than it is. Typical Africa. More on these biting trees later...

Loading up the Eland into the back of the truck. These trucks are outfitted perfectly for this type of thing. All the seats unscrew and can be mounted in different spots to accommodate cargo such as this.