cover,whilehavingenoughclearancetosee
gameata distance.Althougha huntercan
seequitefarintheforest,animalsseemed
todisappearintothinair.Thankfully,my
guideunderstoodthedifficultyofgetting
a trophywitha bow.Soafterwefoundan
animalanddecidedit wasmatureenough
totake,hewouldstaybackasI stalkedin.
Thismadeourpartnershipandeachstalk
muchmoreeffective.
A bushbuck hunt mainly consists of
spot andstalk.Iftheysensetheslightest
danger, they have anuncanny abilityto
disappearlikea ghost.Typically,theywill
hunkerdowninthethickestbush,waitfor
youtomove,andthenboltoutfromthe
otherside.Theycallthembushbucksfor
goodreason!
Althoughthis is notthe mostsought-
after trophy in Africa, it is one of my
favorites. It was amazing to be hunting
a distant species in terrain that is so
different from Spain, but at the time it
feltlikeI washuntingroedeerathome.
Gettingwithin 45 yardsofthisillusiveand
gorgeous creature, and then capitalizing
on my opportunity was a very special
accomplishment. I couldn’t be more
grateful for the experience.
An officer accompanied us from
the Uganda Wildlife Authority, the
organization that manages natural
resourcesofthenation.Heoversaweach
harvestandreportedrelevantinformation
to the government. Additionally, he was
withustopreventandseekoutpoachers,
hence theAK-47 hesported atalltimes.
Muchtoourrelief,therewerenoincidents
whereweneededtheweapon.
Asidefromthebushbuckandsitatunga,
I had the opportunity to chase some
of Africa’s smaller antelope species, the
oribi and duiker. Oribi are typically
accompaniedbyseveralfemales,andthey
preferopenground,whichmakesstalking
them a challenge. In addition, they are
a relatively small antelope, so there is
nothing simple about getting close or
shooting them. Surprisingly, I was able to
The stalk was
crazy and seemed
impossible, but it was
our only option.
Uganda: 2014