Category: Hunter Stories

As the dust settled from the departing herd, we slowly started walking to where I shot the eland bull of my dreams, and found him lying a mere 20 metres further on.  Emotions and trembling hands followed.  It was the culmination of six years and five trips to Eldoret Hunting in the north-east of Namibia.  Although there had been close calls every year, all the previous trips resulted in either eland cows, kudu or gemsbok – but not “The Bull”.

I shot my first animal, a young warthog boar, at the tender age of 10 years old on my uncle’s farm just north of Okahandja, with an old .303 with open sights. We lay in wait on the dam wall for a warthog to come close enough. This proved to be the last animal I hunted in a long time, partly because of the horrible wound inflicted by the FMJ military issue round. My next hunting experience came a lot later in life, but more about that later. Twenty five years after my first hunt, I have started an exponential love affair for all things related to hunting and rifles.

There was a time when Bushman trackers had names like Silent, Shadow and One Shoe. Even as late as the mid-1990s many top notch outfitters in the RSA used real bushman down in the cape. Those days are sadly gone but the magic the bushman possess is still there if you look hard enough. Today, if you ask for Bushman trackers for hunts in South Africa, like I have, you will be told they are no longer needed or even available. They have been phased out in favor of spot and stalk treks from the vehicle, except in very rare cases.