In my role as an editor and a writer, I get to read many interesting things, and some of them are so good that they need to be shared with others. Such is the case with a wonderful essay called ‘This Land of the Ligers’. Kartik Shanker is an evolutionary ecologist and professor at the Centre for Ecological Sciences at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is also the co-founder of Dakshin Foundation, a coastal and marine focused NGO, and founding editor of Current Conservation, a magazine bridging conservation and art.
This Land of the Ligers was published in the ACU Review, the initials standing for The Association of Commonwealth Universities, based in London. You can read the whole essay here: https://www.acu.ac.uk/the-acu-review/this-land-of-ligers/. Professor Shanker examines how romanticised ideals of the natural world overlook and undermine deep historical relationships with nature based on various forms of use. He touches on the issue of hunting, which will interest our readers. Dealing with ‘The Myth of Virgin Nature’, he writes:
“In north America, Henry David Thoreau’s portrayal of nature in Walden and his writings on ecology and environment led to the development of an idea of pristine wilderness. John Muir, the ‘father of national parks’ took these ideas into the state domain and campaigned for the establishment of national parks that would be free of human presence and influence.
“On a camping trip with President Theodore Roosevelt deep in the heart of Yosemite, the latter referred to a sequoia forest as a ‘temple built by no hand of man, a temple grander than any human architect could by any possibility build’. No wonder then that this movement to create pristine natural areas should become nothing short of a religion by the 20th century – one that might be called ‘pristianity’.
“But landscapes such as Yosemite and Yellowstone were not in fact pristine. They were myths created in the 18th and 19th century by adventurers, naturalists and, later, that PR wing of pristianity: nature photographers. These landscapes had been peopled and modified by Native Americans for thousands of years. What the colonisers saw and admired were actually areas that had been used, burned, grazed, and occupied. But they saw them at a time when their own actions had extirpated or displaced those human populations.
“How deeply ironic then that the very idea of a conservation landscape derives from this false notion of virginity, created by the descendants of those responsible for the illusion. And how strange that a century later, we would continue to define conservation in this way across the world, as outsiders.”
Professor Shanker ponders about the currently strong belief in the ‘sanctity of species’, and shares his childhood memories of many visits to the zoo in Kolkata (then Calcutta), where hybrids born of lions and tigers were called ‘ligers’ and ‘tigons’ respectively. In his own field of expertise, the sea turtles, many species hybridise and produce fertile offspring in the wild. He says that the fundamentalist approach of some conservationists is perhaps best reflected in our confused ideas about our utilitarian relationship with nature.
“I have also often used the phrase ‘I love turtles’. Almost never is this interpreted to mean anything other than that I love watching them or that I conduct research on them or that I want to protect them for their own sake. Never would it be interpreted in ‘civilised’ society as meaning that I love turtle meat.”
We hear a lot about ‘animal rights’, and indeed this is one of the issues that is often used to demonise hunters. Professor Shanker observes that:
“But these rights often only extend to certain animals – typically birds and mammals, and sometimes extending to all vertebrates – depending on whom you are talking to. Among conservationists, it is not unusual to find rights conferred upon the animal that one ‘loves’, such as dogs, dolphins or elephants. The inherent irrationality is not dissimilar to the simultaneous existence of many monotheistic religions.”
“In Africa, western conservationists have driven the narrative of conservation for nearly a century. Kenya’s national parks were established by a British conservationist, and similar stories abound across the continent. What is galling is that, in addition to past atrocities, animal rights activists, compassionate conservationists, and others of their ilk continue to try and control conservation in distant and often low-income nations.
“Recently, the controversy surrounding trophy hunting has attracted much media attention. While there can be valid critiques with regard to which animals are hunted and whether revenues reach the people who need it, anti-hunting campaigns are often misinformed or intentionally misleading. Moreover, most of the opposition is actually about the killing itself. This is odd for many reasons. Hunting has been closely linked to human evolution, with animal protein regarded as an important driver of the increase in brain size. But the sports hunt may have had a role as well; in fact the hunting of large dangerous animals is believed to have been used to signal dominance of both individuals and societies.
“But evolutionary history apart, the right to use nature – through hunting or other means – is both philosophically justifiable as well as practically necessary. After all, biocentrism is itself a construct of human thought, and while those who subscribe to it are entitled to do so, foisting it upon a large diverse world is as colonial as any other form of oppression. And like other hierarchies, this cultural oppression disproportionately affects the vulnerable and marginalised.
“At a practical level, practices like trophy hunting can bring significant income to poorer communities across the global south. Traditional fishing and hunting offer sources of nutrition otherwise not accessible to those communities. Most importantly, what version of equity allows those in the west (or in cities) who have already destroyed their environments, and whose lives have enormous ecological footprints, to dictate that others cannot benefit from their resources in a manner that is ecologically sustainable?
“These deep, historical relationships with the natural world based on use – where nature can be simultaneously revered and eaten – form the most fundamental basis of sustainability and conservation. And yet, across the globe, these rich cultural practices are being eroded by the misadventure of modern conservation. In addition to the imposition on culture and economic growth, movements that create exclusionary spaces for nature seek to sever connections with nature for the wider world while preserving these privileges for an already dystopian urban elite. This constitutes an egregious failure of the ethics of equity and human rights, as well as a fatal error in the path to a more universal acceptance of environmental conservation.”
As 2021 draws to a close, and as the world continues to be constrained and complicated by the Covid-19 virus, we should be grateful to people like Professor Shanker for providing such valuable thinking to the relationship between humans and the other species with which we share this planet. Hopefully 2022 will see Africa opening up to international travellers once again, and hunters returning to conduct their ‘rich cultural practices.’
Dr John Ledger is a past Director of the Endangered Wildlife Trust, now a consultant, writer and teacher on the environment, energy and wildlife; he is a columnist for the African Hunting Gazette. He lives in Johannesburg, South Africa.John.Ledger@wol.co.za
Chris and Bob from Montana have hunted with me on many occasions and we’ve always done pretty well as a team. They are the nicest people, so when Chris contacted me for a possible late season double buffalo and plains-game hunt, “of course, no problem,” I said. Having hunted many buffalo together over the years and always taken very good old bulls, the “monster buff” had always eluded us. However this has never been the focus of a safari. Chris is a guy who enjoys the hunt for what it is, and is more interested in how a particular animal is hunted rather than what it measures – one of the reasons we have always had stress-free and successful safaris.
December is not typically a prime hunting month in Zimbabwe, as often the rains would have begun, the bush starts to thicken, and rivers start flowing, making access to some areas difficult or impossible. But at the same time it is a time of year that is so beautiful. Animals start having their young, flowers are in bloom, there is new growth of leaves, and sometimes there are spectacular electrical thunderstorms. Chris and Bob were well aware that we could spend a lot of time getting wet or unstuck from the mud, but whatever the circumstances, we would still have a lot of fun.
Humani in the Save Valley Conservancy owned by the Whittall family is one of the most beautiful places I’ve had the pleasure of guiding in, an area of riverine bush along the Turgwe and Save Rivers, mopane woodlands, malala palm forests and many kopjes. The abundance and quality of game is incredible. You can expect to see close to a thousand head of game a day, including black and white rhino, elephant, wild dogs, lion, leopard, buffalo and, of course, all the various types of plains game.
When I arrived in camp, I was told that a really big buffalo had been seen the previous day in a herd of about 100 animals. The description sounded really good, even if taking the information with a pinch of salt. A few days later I decided to go to the area where this bull had been seen, and found fresh sign of a herd literally a mile or so from where the buff had been spotted. Excited and full of anticipation we got ready, me with ammo belt, binoculars, shooting sticks in one hand and my rifle in the other. Chris and Bob were prepared for a long morning, with Chris’s weapon of choice a .416 Remington fitted with a Swarovski scope.
Chris, Bob, Mudini, Ishmael and National Parks Ranger with Chris’s magnificent buffalo
Mudini, an exceptional tracker was in front and on tracks. Following a herd of buffalo of this size was pretty easy for someone of Mudini’s talent and it wasn’t too long before we heard the first sounds of a buffalo grunt and mooing in the distance. “Sound advice” as I like to call it. Making sure the wind was in our favor we took a big loop around the herd and positioned ourselves in among some rocks at a slightly elevated angle, expecting the herd of buffalo to casually and slowly graze past us. It was the right spot for ambush, as front of the herd started to slowly make its way towards us. Man, the suspense was quite something as the front of the herd passed us at no more than 40 yards, completely unaware of our presence! A couple of good bulls passed. No sign of the “monster.” Surely this is the same herd I asked myself. I thought we were going to have him, but alas he was not in this herd. Disappointing.
We were making our way back to the closest road when we bumped a bachelor group of bulls. We did not actually see any of them but knew they were all bulls just by the size of the tracks. Mudini reckoned there were five. We gave it 10 minutes before deciding to follow them. After roughly 30 minutes on the tracks Mudini suddenly stopped, crouched and pointed ahead. He had spotted movement. Swish of a tail is all he had seen. Lifting my 10x42s Swarovskis, and looking into the thick, green cover, I could only make out two bulls and neither of them was what we wanted. Trying to get a different angle to lay eyes on the others made me to give my position away, and with a loud snort from one of the bulls, the group thundered off. We continued to follow, but it was obvious they knew we were behind them as they kept running off. I called off our pursuit to give them time to settle again and we headed back to camp for lunch and a rest.
A while later we were back to where we had left the tracks, and after roughly half an hour Mudini told us to wait. He needed to backtrack a bit to make 100% sure that we were still on the same tracks, as at this point there had been sign of a herd that had moved through the area, and we wanted to stick to the Dagga Boy spoor, so working this out needed some meticulous and sharp tracking skills. Bob, Chris and I stood on a well-used game trail while Mudini did his thing.
Author and PH Thierry Labat with the “monster” buffalo bull
We were having a quiet chat when something caught my eye. It was a buffalo bull, its head down, slowly walking directly towards us on the game trail we were on. It was less than 40yds away and without having to look through my binoculars I knew this was what we had been looking for. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I set the shooting sticks up, told Chris to get onto them and just wait as the bull kept getting closer and closer, completely oblivious to our presence. At roughly 25 yards the bull must have sensed something. It stopped and looked up at us exposing his whole chest and giving us an absolutely beautiful view of his horns. The mass, shape, width and drop were everything any buffalo hunter could dream of!
The silence was shattered by Chris’s .416. It was a solid hit in the centre of the chest. The bull bucked and his nose almost hit the ground at the impact of the bullet. After the shot we all kind of stared at each other in disbelief of what had just happened. A few moments later Mudini came back to where we were standing with a look of surprise on his face. As a joke we told him we’d shot at an eland. You should’ve seen his look of disappointment! A short follow-up, and again the look on Mudini’s face when he realised by the tracks that it was not an eland we’d shot. But the best expression on his face was when he laid eyes on the bull that had succumbed to the shot. What a sight!
After much backslapping and congratulations, reality sank in, and we had to acknowledge that we were just in the right place at the right time. I mean what were the chances? If it’s meant to be it will be, with a bit of effort of course. Chris had finally bagged himself a “monster” bull. A 45” bull with a beautiful shape and serious bosses. Que seras!
BIO
Thierry Labat of Thierry Labat Safaris is a freelance, multiple award-winning professional hunter who customizes safaris for clients all over Africa to include Zimbabwe, Cameroon, Uganda, Mozambique and Mauritius. Contact him directly on phthierrylabat@gmail.com or through his website: www.thierrylabat.com for any enquiries relating to hunting safaris in above mentioned countries.
We started to hunting the Savannah again in January and actually it was only July that we finished our forest season – with the same (and in some cases, better) level of success as always. We saw to it that our areas were not abandoned during the pandemic. And although fewer hunters than normal, all of our usual PHs were guiding. However, where we could, we deployed them to different areas in order that everyone could at least get some work during the season.
Having fewer hunters gave us more time to give attention into the important areas that in busier times sometimes get less attention. Renovating camps, and for some, even moving the entire camp to brand new areas. Opening roads, exploring remote areas that we have not hunted and establishing new salt points. All in the interest of future success. So, while a stop in the hunters in 2020, we managed to set the foundation for this year. The result was very positive as it helped us prepare really well. Friends desperate to get traveling came to help. They were tired of being “prisoners” at home.
The cancellation of the hunting shows, which coincides with our main savannah season, also gave us the opportunity, especially to my father and I, to travel to more of the savannah areas than we have in the past. We could also dedicate more time (to our staff, the authorities, and to the areas and camps. It is always a challenge because while it would be great to have PHs at the shows, when they are at the shows, talking with potential clients, they can’t be in the savannah hunting with existing clients.
A negative aspect of the pandemic was the shortage of food and this meant more poaching – which needed more anti-poaching from ourselves. We hired team leader Greyling Van der Merwe a young enthusiastic ex-military South African from the French Foreign Legion who is now overseeing the anti-poaching. He could combine the French-Cameroon style of our local staff with the South African and Zimbabwean/Tanzanian style of our PHs. Poaching is not a quick battle – but rather a long war. We are already starting to appreciate the changes in our areas and I’m sure we will notice more from his work next season.
So, in summary, we took a positive approach from this pandemic and from the trophies you see – the areas, the camps, the staff – we have all delivered – and for the past year’s clients – we say thank you.
Book edited by Craig T. Boddington and Peter Flack (Safari Press, 2004, 606 pages); Review by Ken Bailey
When James Mellon’s book African Hunter was published in 1975, it was hailed immediately as a classic, a thorough and contemporary guide to hunting Africa. But, in Mellon’s own words from 2003, “My book is no longer relevant to conditions in today’s Africa.”
Enter Craig Boddington and Peter Flack, two well-respected hunters and writers. They took up the challenge and compiled what is undoubtedly the most comprehensive book dedicated to hunting Africa in the 21st century. African Hunter II builds on what Mellon started and created what Mellon suggested will be, “the standing work in its field for decades to come.”
The 600-page book is an engaging amalgam of encyclopedia, guidebook and captivating treasury of hunting tales from across all walks of Africa. Twenty-four countries are featured; for each, the editors provide a summary of the hunting regions, the game animals available, and a brief overview of the history, geography, climate and basic national facts and economic statistics. The primary species hunted in each country are covered in reasonable detail, providing hunters considering a safari some inside knowledge that will help in their planning. Clear, simple and beautifully-created maps accompany each country chapter. Once the “facts” have been covered for each country, readers are treated to some fine contemporary magazine-style writing, compelling tales of hunting in the region, some previously published, but all written by accomplished hunter/writers. In fact, if you had no interest whatever in the “guide” portions of the book, you could spend many rewarding evenings just soaking in the many well-crafted tales of African safari hunting.
There are a few add-on chapters designed to assist both the first-timer and the safari veteran alike. As might be expected with Boddington at the helm, included is a thorough overview of rifle/cartridge combinations. Other chapters provide guidance for booking your safari and what medical considerations you should be thinking about before you go. And from cover to cover, this book is well-saturated with wonderful photography of the game, the people and the places.
By their very nature all guidebooks have a shelf life, and this is no exception. Some of what was reflective of the African safari world in 2004 may not be exactly the same today. Notwithstanding that, it’s still a very relevant overview today, and the sheer volume of information about hunting in Africa makes this a treasure that will last a long time. In fact, when they eventually take away all my stuff and put me in that home, this is likely to be the one book I keep at my bedside.
Hunters Heart Taxidermy founder and CEO Ruan Viljoen is an avid hunter and conservationist with a passion for securing the sustainability of hunting in South Africa. Ruan has been a professional in the industry for many years, hunting his first African Buffalo at the young age of 13, and growing up admiring his father’s impressive collection of over 66 trophies.
It is because of this extensive background in the hunting industry that we appreciate and understand the significance of expressing each client’s memories with our custom craftsmanship, and why we focus so greatly on delivering a superb customer experience.
How many years have you been in the business?
The team has combined experience of 37 years. Hunters Heart Taxidermy is a relative new entity and brand that we are very excited about.
What are your favorite mounts & why?
Custom mounts, as this gives me an opportunity to be creative and to give the client a unique, one-of-a-kind trophy.
What are your specialty areas that you have in the business?
We specialize in custom mounting which gives us a distinct advantage when creating one-of-a-kind trophies for our client. As my artist statement explains, my work is utterly incomprehensible and is therefore full of deep significance. We do not rely on standard forms, we resize and sculp each form to fit the animal’s natural anatomy to the size of the skin received. Attention to detail, by a very strict Quality Control Department, on muscle definition, hide texture, eye expression, veins and pose to be anatomically correct. When you need Africa alive, you need a Hunters Heart signature.
Current processes offered:
Pick up & collect trophies: Yes (free, all over South Africa for International clients)
Maximum distance offered to collect trophies: all over South Africa
Own tanning facilities: Yes
Do you buy in forms or sculpt your own or both: Sculpt and Alter own forms
Delivery time (approximate):
Dip and Pack: 3 months after payment was received
European mounts: 3-6 months
Shoulder mounts: 8-11 months
Full mounts: 8-11 months
General Comments
The conservation of our wildlife resources, and of responsible hunting in our region is imperative to sustaining the legacy of our community. As a conservation-centred company, we endeavour to establish a total value chain in the community where the income generated from hunting practices, directly or indirectly, can be traced and measured. We therefore ensure that no part of an animal goes to waste: unutilised meat feeds the community, and skins are transformed into unique bags and other sellable products by local entrepreneurs. Every hunter contributes to this ideology and to the survival of the industry, capturing the Heart of Hunting.
Consider two statements you could hear from your potential outfitter:
Our area has the conditions to produce large kudu; and
Our clients shot three kudu, over 55 inches last year.
The first encourages thoughts on how to find them and the enjoyment of the hunt: the second focuses more on collection than enjoyment and could lead to speculation on whether there are any left when three were taken so recently.
There is so much ‘telling’ in this world. Some of us have had enough. Our governments have told us too much in the last two years and by all accounts, this may not change.
I got into the industry when I was quite young as I had worked for a furrier when I was just a boy. I had always been interested in taxidermied animals, and first started when I used a mail order from the back of a hunting magazine for a booklet on taxidermy. It was quite accurate though I think a little tough to understand for someone not trained in taxidermy. However, the illustrations and the tools they used for tanning were correct.
Just as I was getting ready to go to college, I worked for a famous local taxidermist, Louis Paul Jonas, from the American Museum. He had a studio north of us, about an hour away, and they did very simple work. They didn’t do any advertising, but their archives and what they had there was everything and more than you could ever imagine – like a museum studio.
Jonas died while in his 40s, and his clients were dispersed. Then I got a very famous Austrian gunsmith who dropped off a chamois for me to work on, and this was just as I was starting to work at Jonas’s former commercial studio in Mount Vernon, New York, down in the city. The studio was orinally the Tiffany glass factory before it moved to Long Island, so the place had a lot of history. The Austrian said if I wanted to really learn taxidermy, I needed to work for a place in a museum studio. We didn’t know each other, but he’s still a big friend of mine, hard to believe, 30 years later.
I went down there for a job interview and looked around. There was some archival stuff there, up to the roof – a lot of businesses had been there for 50 years or 60 years. There there old collections of work to be refurbished, and stock. They were overflowing with James Mellon’s trophies, that famous author who wrote African Hunter. There was amazing sculpture work and things from the original museums. The big elephant head that was there was probably one of the first reproductions. It looked like fibreglass, but made of papier maché and it was signed by all three Jonas brothers. It was was just so amazing. I never really realised taxidermy even went to those levels.
The person who interviewed me for the job at Jonas’s studios in New York, formerly Louis Paul’s commercial studio, was Steve Horn. Once I walked in the door, I was 100% sure that was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, and it’s not too many times in your life you’re that clear about anything. He made me call back there seven times to come get that job. I laughed because he said to me, “Well, what do you think you’re worth?” At the time I was 20, finishing my third year of college. I told him I had worked for a fur buyer when I was a kid. I did piece work for him, so by 12 years’ old l was trained in skinning animals using a beaming knife. I was probably making $10 an hour every day and it was an erratic schedule. I put in a lot of hours, and if necessary had to work on Christmas Day. It was fine, because that was my job, even as a young boy.
So when Steve Horn said, “Well what do you think you’re worth?” I said, “Well, I don’t know – I’m just sure this is what I want to do.”
He said that someone had just left and there was an opening for the shop. It wasn’t really as an apprentice, but Steve said, “You’ll learn a lot, you can work with these other taxidermists.” I was paid $4.10 an hour. I had to drive an hour and 40 minutes to work every day. So every week I wouldn’t really even take a pay cheque, I would just buy materials because I was doing taxidermy then, so I would buy pastes and have tanning done and things like that. But I worked there for years and I learnt a lot. I met some good, interesting people, and then as I progressed, I searched out other people in the industry, people that were connected to places that were very good in certain facets of taxidermy, like African work or doing cats. I would go work for them for free and then come back and I would retrain my men and change our material. So I did that probably three or four times in my life before I was 30.
At one point we were hired to work on Cabela’s projects and there was a pretty famous taxidermist who was handling those jobs. I had a tremendous amount of inventory that I had purchased over the years, and I kind of stepped into this strange job from this eccentric guy who wanted to build a Cabela’s type store, right in-between the two Cabela’s stores in West Virginia. They were going public, so they were making a big splash. We do all North American taxidermy, but when we got an opportunity to actually work for Cabela’s, they hired me to do exclusively African work.
Of course, African work is always the hardest with the highest level of detail, and I was really fortunate, because that’s when I met Wayne. They had sent their agents to collect skins and they made some deals with some guys in South Africa, game ranchers. They said, “Oh, we need kudus and this and this and this,” and they gave a laundry list. But the problem was, the first two times the skins came back, which is what they handed me, they were average-sized animals. The problem was, they wanted record-book-size horns which could be made as reproductions, but the skins were too small.
So I told him I had the inventory covered: “Why don’t you let me just supply the inventory, supply the grasses, the African birds, all the skins. I’ll do the reproduction horns so we have them from record-book-size animals. I’ll handle this for you, you don’t have any problem.” They agreed.
That helped me. Through those years I was able to do almost all African work for Cabela’s. I did a few other things for that Pennsylvania store, but they didn’t want to have one person handling everything. Africa was my thing. And then it also helped me to go to Africa and collect animals and spend a month over there with Wayne. He liked what we were getting, mostly skins, and I got the experience of hunting and vacation, and kept my own horns and skulls, and we used reproduction record-book ones on the animals in the bigger mounts in the stores. And then after that we did a lot of regular client African work, as well as North American work. On one occasion I was at Safari Club and had a big glass case with African birds in it, all the stuff that you see in a bird scene. I had maybe 15 birds in a case and a man walkedup to the case and said “Wow! I need those for my museum. Are those for sale?” I said, sure.
“How many do you have?”
“Oh, about 250.”
“I’ll take them all,” he said, shook my hand and said, “I’m Johnny Morris.” And that was the beginning of our relationship and he hired us for the African exhibits for him, and I think we did just short of 300 life-size animals for that museum. There were a lot of different parts of it that would take some expertise – not just doing it, but having the right brokers to bring these trophies in from outside that had been sitting in Africa for a long time. But we were able to get all that stuff done, as well as do some reproduction animals for him that were impossible to find, and do some restoration work on some things that were very complicated. Anyway, so it’s the African work and it’s what we do mostly.
Favorite animal? Almost everybody says cats because they’re complicated, and we absolutely have done lots of them. For me personally, my honest answer is, I don’t really have anything I would say is a favorite, but I like high detail and I like craftsmanship and natural positions on things, so I could say cats. But I don’t, because they’re probably the focal point in taxidermy. We’re not really doing any elephants or any lions, so that would have to mean leopards.
I think even though we’ve been fortunate enough to work on Cabela’s African displays and Johnny Morris’s African museum, and people with world-famous sheep and mountain scapes, we still do lots of normal work for people as far as African safaris and small safaris are concerned. We enjoy working with people when they’re new and when they start their trophy rooms and they start that journey of hunting of a lifetime. You start somewhere and start small.
And then we end up re-doing their trophy rooms, and we usually work for these people for most of their lives – and that’s true.
An admitted novice big game hunter, Robert Ruark went on an African safari for the first time ostensibly on medical orders; his doctor advised that a year’s rest would serve him well and Ruark decided that recommendation would be the impetus to fulfilling a long held dream of hunting Africa. So in the early 1950s, accompanied by his wife, Virginia, he embarked on a two-month safari across what is now Kenya and Tanzania. The tales of their exploits are captured in Horn of the Hunter.
Ruark booked his safari with the Legendary Ker and Downey Safaris, who assigned a young PH, Harry Selby, then 25, to guide their hunt. Horn of the Hunter would not only bring Ruark to newfound prominence as a writer, but also made a celebrity of Selby, who was booked solid for years to come following the release of Ruark’s book.
Horn of the Hunter is much more than just another tale of hunting Africa’s fabled big game, although there are plenty of descriptive sections detailing encounters with lions, elephants, Cape buffalo, leopards, rhinoceros, kudu, and more. What sets Ruark’s writing apart from the pack, however, is his ability to capture the feel and spirit of a safari. He had the ability, and a willingness, to reveal his innermost thoughts while camping and hunting across remote eastern Africa. He details what safari life is like in a truthful and insightful manner that has been captured in few other places within the realm of African hunting literature. His frustrations, fears, anxieties, pride, and elation take turns coming to the fore, and the reader rides along on his roller coaster of emotions.
Horn of the Hunter should be required reading for everybody before they go on their first safari. Sure, times have changed, and you’ll not likely be travelling cross-country in a beaten up old truck, putting up and taking down camps, as you hunt for weeks on end. What hasn’t changed, however, are the emotions you’ll experience, the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the tragedies. After all, it’s those emotions, as much as the game, that make us want to return to Africa again and again.
It is 4 o´clock this morning when my alarm clock jolts me out of my sleep, my dreams, and makes me aware to get up, take a shower, and slip into my Sniper Africa Camo clothes. Outside it is still dark, quite and peaceful when I close the door of my nice and cosy room.
The old Landy
We have reached the end of August and I am luckily back to Africa, staying on a wonderful family-owned farm called Okapunja in Northern Namibia, close to the Etosha National Park. Around the house, under the lapa, I meet Gustav, my Professional Hunter and a real good guy. After a quick coffee and some homemade cookies, we are heading out into the bush in this old almost indestructible Land Rover.
The windshield is folded down so we can feel the fresh morning breeze on our faces and smell the nature around us although we smell more the unburned fuel from the old “Landy”. We park the reliable old-timer under a camelthorn tree before we walk the last three-quarters of a mile to our blind through the darkish savanna.
Gorgeous rosy faced lovebirds and masked weaver birds are the morning messengers with their chirps in the bushes around our blind welcoming the rising morning sun. Like the sunsets, the sunrises are always wonderful and especially how immediately the upcoming warmth makes you feel more comfortable. With the light, the first animal visitors – helmeted guinea fowls and doves – show up at the little waterhole.
It is around 6:20 a.m. when all of a sudden the bunch of fowls and other birds run and fly away in a deuce of a stir. What rocked the boat? Two black-backed jackals (canis mesomelas) seem to appear from nowhere, heading straight to the waterhole. What an amazing surprise. I am not only awake now but also really excited. The jackals behave also excited and skittish when they come closer to the waterhole. The younger and smaller one is nudging and teasing his fellow when they arrive at the water whereas the bigger jackal is looking in our direction, checking if everything is all right.
Gustav and I are both dead quiet and still in our blind. I have my loyal and faithful Mathews LX bow in one hand and the Gold Tip Lazer carbon arrow in the other hand, and through the mesh of the blind I stare at 22 meters (24 yards) that seprate us. Gustav is also standing deadly silent behind the video camera focused the jackals. The big jackal, annoyed with his younger companion, bares his teeth and barks at him. This short distraction gives me the opportunity to quickly nock my arrow, lift up my bow, and pull it back to full draw. For a moment, the “wild dogs of the African savanna” stand still now at the waterhole and both drop their heads to drink.
Our termite blind
This is my one and only chance to put the sight on the vitals of the big male in front. Fortunately, the younger is not standing behind or in front of him and the line of fire is clear when I release the arrow for its deadly mission. The arrow, with the Silverflame 125 grain broadhead, penetrates completely the body of the animal over the left front leg and the jackal jumps up immediately. In three, four, five wild turns, he tumbles around to the right before he expires within seconds, only 10 yards away from where I shot him. No long suffering. The young jackal is completely irritated about what happened and runs around his dead friend twice before he scampers into the bush. We wait a couple of minutes before I sneak out of the blind to pick up the jackal and look for the arrow, which we finally found 70 meters behind the shooting spot. What an experience and unexpected start of the day.
It is two days later when I sit this time with Rudy, the other PH on the farm, in the same blind at about the same time in the early morning. The scene is almost identical to my previous visit. This time the younger, smaller rooijakkal visits the waterhole. He creeps out of the thick bushes to the southeast, moving slightly nervously in a quick pace as he approachs the waterhole. Cautiously he checks the area before he lowering his head for a drink. Once again, the distance is about 22 meters (24 yards) and the jackal is standing a bit quartering towards us.
The spot on the vitals is small but feasible. The jackal is still having a sip when I draw my bow at a snail´s pace and focus on the aiming spot. Slowly my index finger pushes the release and I let the arrow go. It hits him hard, exactly, and penetrates entirely. Again, the animal swirls around to find out what hit him before he dropped dead within five seconds and five yards distance.
Rudy was astonished how quickly and cleanly this happens with bow and arrow. What an amazing awesome morning again and what a lucky hunter.
Always good hunting, Waidmannsheil and Alles van die Beste.
My two jackal trophies
Frank
Equipment Bow: Mathews LX 70# Arrow: Gold Tip Lazer Broadhead: German Kinetics Silverflame Optics: Zeiss Victory Binocular & Bushnell Rangefinder Release: Scott Camo: Sniper Africa
Bio: German hunter Frank Berbuir is passionate about the outdoors and hunting – especially bowhunting, which he has practised for more than 22 years. Although he’s bowhunted in several countries, he’s become addicted to hunting in Africa since his first safari in 2004. Frank is a mechanical engineer and risk manager in the automotive industry.
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