56 http://www.africanhuntinggazette.com
South Africa: 2016
A true trophy record book white rhino.T
he Big Five has always fascinated
me. Dangerous game and predator
hunting is like adding hot sauce
to the sport of hunting. It definitely gives
you thatextra kick. Now I wantedto do
a green hunt and dart the mighty white
rhino.Becauseit requiresonetogetwithin
30 yardsofananimalthatcan- andhas-
throwna Capebuffalointheairlikea rag
doll, it is pretty dangerous.I saw it on a
YouTubevideoand it’sworththelook,but
maybebesttowatchit afteryourtrip!I was
also warned that we would need to keep
a sharp eyeoutfor lion becausewe would
beinlioncountry.I havealwayswantedto
see a lion inthe wild and was excited yet
terrified about the possible opportunity.
My son who is also a hunter laughed a
mewhenI toldhimI mightseea lion.He
saidlionsstay sowellhiddenthatI would
probablyneverseethem,butthelionswould
seeme. I askedmyguideStevenTamif my
sonwasright.Stevendidn'thesitate.“Yeah,
thatsoundsright,butyouneverknow.” The
thoughtkeptmeawakemanynightsonthat
safari.
Thefirsttaskwastogetusedtoshooting
thedartgunwhichis notas accurateas a gun,
andhasevenlessofaneffective rangethan
a crossbow,butStevenassuredmewewould
getcloseenoughfora shot.Thenweheaded
outinthesafarivehicles,coveringplentyof
ground.I waslookinghard,butobviouslynot
hardenough.
Therearetworhinostoyourright,”Steven
casuallyremarked.“Where?” Stevendirected
me,andthroughmybinocularstheycameto
life.Ata distancetheylookedjustlikelarge
grayrocks.AswegotcloserStevendecided
theywerenotgoodbullsandweren’twhatwe
werelookingfor,soonwewent.Wefound
a herdofeightrhinoswitha coupleofvery
nice bulls.Theproblemwasthey wereout
in the open, making stalking up to them
nearlyimpossible.Stevenreallylikedtwoof
thebulls,butwarnedwe wouldlikelyhave
littlesuccessbecausetheterrainwasnotideal.
However,thetrophyqualityofthebullsmade
it wasworththeeffort.
We drove a way past them, stashed the
vehicle,judgedthewindandstartedourlong
walkbackovertotherhinos.Theseanimals
are extremely smart. They lie down with
theirbacksidestothewindsotheycansmell
anythingcomingupfrombehindthem,and
seewhat'sinfrontofthem.Theyalsotendto
lieina semi-circlewithonerhinostandingas
a forwardscout.
Therhino seem to be like sheep - they
knowyoureffectiverangeandwillmoveoff
any time you start closing that gap. We hadwalkedcloseenoughusingbushes,rocks,and
anthillsascover,andwerefinallyinposition
wherewecouldnolongerwalkbentoverlow
totheground.It wastimetolow-crawl.We
scooted,wormed,andcrawledourwayover
thenexthour,stoppingandtryingtogetinto
position.I stayeddirectlybehindSteven,our
trackerclosebehindmefilmingthehunt.The
rhinos were alert to our presence but hadn’tspooked.Wecouldhearthembreathingand
rustlingabout.Wewereabout 45 yardsaway
fromeightlargerhinos.
“Ten more yards,” Steven whispered,
gesturingtothepronerhinotomyleft.We
didn’tevenmakeit anotherfiveyardswhen
theyallboltedupandthunderedaway.The
agilityandspeedwasstartling.Theamount
of ground they covered so quickly was
frightening, especially considering we were
onlyfortyyardsaway.
Therhinosstayedoutintheopen,sowe
wentbacktothetrucktoseeif wecouldfind
anyclosertosomerockoutcropsortreesso
thatwecouldmoreeasilystalkwithinrange.
Wedidfindothers,butnonethatStevenliked
asmuchasthebullsinthesmallherdwehad
spookedearlier,sohedecidedtoheadback
theirwaytoseeif maybetheyhadmovedor
brokenoffintotwogroups.
We found all eight rhinos. They had
stayed together but had moved off into a
smallstripoftreeswitha ravinethatsnaked
around,givingusa nicebreakintheterrain
toconcealourselves.Whenwewentintothe
ravine,it becameobviousit hadbeenusedas
a lion’sden.Thecollectionofbones,skulls,
andhornswashorrific.A coupleofthekills
couldn'thavebeenmorethana fewdaysold,
judgingbytherottingmeatstillleftonthe
bones.
Steven marched ahead unfazed by the
carnage we had just walked through. I
looked backwards at our tracker who was
stillfollowingme,andhelookedunsettled!I
intendedtostayas closetoStevenas possible.
Wefinallygottothepointwhereweableto
sneaka peekovertheravine.Therhinoswere
close, but their advance scout spotted us andWe didn’t even make
it another five yards
when they all bolted
up and thundered
away.
Antibiotics used for darting.