All the others came back with their eagle-head,
and although it is not an uncommon goose, my
luck ran against me – much to the delight of those
who took this as a great opportunity for banter at
my expense! Swines!
True an eagle-head did fall to my gun, but it
planed out into the prairie from where it could not
be picked. We chased after it in the 4x4 across
the snow-laden stubbles, but each time we drew
near enough for a cripple-stopping shot it flew on
again until it was finally out of reach.
No doubt that beautiful bird was food for a
coyote in the depth of a dark winter’s night.
Perhaps there will be better fortune on this
occasion a few months hence.
But a double at sandhill cranes to watch them
fall onto a snowy stubble on our first morning was
a high point; as was a mixed double at snow and
Ross from the same dashing skein.
The eagle-heads will be there among the
yelping masses of white geese, and with luck one
will fall to my gun and a landmark for me will have
been achieved.
Next, we flew south to the Free State in South
Africa where we hunted for Egyptian geese, giant
spurwing geese, and a variety of ducks which
never cross our shores at home. We shot
red-billed teal, yellow-billed duck, southern
shoveler and black duck to name just some, and
had a wonderful time doing so.
Good fortune followed me too. For one morning
as the goose flight dried up a small dashing bunch
of five birds fled past me for two Namaqua sand
grouse to follow me back to the lodge. What luck!
What a delight, for we saw no others that week
- neither have we seen them in that place since.
The southern hemisphere birds are not the
most attractive in the world, with the geese having
ugly heads and harsh calls. The male and female
duck species are almost identical, so there is
none of the riotously colourful beauty of the male
ducks we encounter at home.
So what next after that eagle-head? For
me, it is the longed-for trip to Argentina
to hunt the great variety of 13 or 14
species of duck that can be found in
huge numbers in some places.
Once again, the southern
hemisphere duck will be look-a-like
between male and female of the species.
But there will be pintail and varieties of teal,
wigeon and rosy-billed pochard.
For me that is pencilled in for 2020, and there is
now a steely determination to go there. Not to
shoot the floods of doves, which are such an
attraction to some, but to concentrate as I have
done all my adult life on the waterfowl that I hold
so dear.
Sadly, the geese in Argentina are now fully
protected, which means that opportunity seems
to have passed me by. But with luck at least the
opportunity to clear up more of my bucket list will
have been taken.
WILDFOWLING
PICTURE:ADRIAN PINGSTONETicked
anything off your
bucket list this year? We
would love to hear about
your shooting
successes!Alan hopes to travel abroad again in 2020These days, most of Alan’s
bucket list goals are overseasAlan’s luck was in when this pair of Namaque sand
grouse dashed past him in South AfricaTop of Alan’s list: the
eagle-head snow goose