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Good day fellow hunters

I just wanted to fill you in a little on what’s been going on since I made my last meaningful post, sometime ago now. Obviously the talk about the woods is that we are out of Chewore. That fact has saddened us all but we are following the example of our boss and remaining upbeat. I spoke with Roger earlier today, for the first time since the auction and he is relatively unfazed. He said he is just grateful for the time RWS has had in Chewore and that it is time to move on. Those of you who know Roger will understand when I say he has plans afoot. Somehow, I don’t think losing Chewore is going to affect either the amount of hunting we do or the quality of trophies we procure!

If I remember correctly, my last updates were made from Humani and were about Jimmy the rhino and the Tylinsky leopard hunt. Some of you may remember the trail cam pictures I posted from the Tylinsky hunt. Can you believe that we determined the cat below was a female? Hard to believe, I know, but the truth. This cat was photographed a number of times from different angles and not once did we see any sign of a scrotie peeking out from between its hind legs. A eunuch maybe? Anyhow, interesting and controversial issues are coming about as a result of these leopard pictures and I shall keep you posted on developments. Those developments should take place the next couple of days.

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Despite maximum effort on her part, Rhonda Tylinsky never got her leopard. The result made us all a little bleak as we are not too conditioned to failure, particularly when it comes to leopards on Humani. Anyhow, Rhonda’s bad luck and the next hunt I accompanied had me thinking a great deal about success and failure and everything in between. I have actually been contemplating exactly what success and failure are, pertaining to hunting and life in general. My conclusions? If you give it everything you have, there can never be failure. Everyone certainly gave it their all on the Bob Glick elephant bull safari. I was telling Roger a little about that hunt earlier, and I concluded with the words, ‘It was the most physically and mentally challenging hunt I’ve been on for years.’ That certainly is the truth. In 4 years to be exact – ever since a 2003 Chewore eland hunt I went on with Tim Hauck and PH Peter Wood. Eland? I hear you ask incredulously. Believe it people. Anyhow, that’s another story. Let me tell you a little about the Bob Glick elephant safari.

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From the very onset, I felt that Bob’s hunt was going to build up to a fantastic climax. I felt this even towards the end, during the dry days leading up to day ten, when hope was fast fading. Instinct is what it’s all about. Sometimes one can just feel it coming on, in hunting and in everyday life. Maybe some cannot, but I can. It certainly came on strong during that elephant bull hunt. Throughout those two weeks, my senses worked maximum overdrive, urging me to savor each moment of this one, priming me to be prepared when the moments came about. Within my soul, I knew it was going to be a memorable hunt. Yes, I know that I often write about memorable hunting experiences, and it is true that each hunt is unique in its own right, but some do definitely stand out. Particular hunts are more deeply ingrained in the memory than others – it’s as simple as that. In my mind, the Bob Glick safari shall always rank high as one of those.

Although it is normal for me to go into a hunt in an optimistic frame, in the case of Bob’s hunt my expectations were possibly a little over the top. I mean, a mid-season elephant bull hunt in Chewore? Hardly anything to get too pumped up about, especially when one has just accompanied a fairly relaxed hunt in Nyakasanga, where a 65 pound elephant bull was taken on day eight. And that was after 42 bulls were adjudged and turned down, including several 50 pounders! Quite unbelievable in this day and age, but true nonetheless. So, yes, coming off the success of the Nyakasanga safari and going into the Chewore hunt was certainly not inspirational as far as the attainment of heavy ivory was concerned, but still I felt overly inspired, for a number of reasons.
First of all, there is the Chewore factor to consider. Whilst Chewore ivory is not that inspirational, Chewore itself certainly is. Time spent in Chewore does strange things to people, including me. I am amongst a number of African big game hunters who rate Chewore as the ultimate hunting experience. Since I first spent time in that hard land, thirteen years ago now, there has never been any doubt in my mind that this is the case. Just the thought of hunting Chewore sends shivers of excitement down my spine, and I’m not making use of my writer’s license in this instance. Secondly, although Chewore does not have a great record when it comes to the procurement of heavy ivory, particularly in recent times, Roger Whittall Safaris enjoyed sweet success there in early 2007, with two fine bulls being taken on the season’s first two elephant hunts. Chi Kit Chai, hunting with PH Richard Tabor took a phenomenal 66 pound bull, and then PH Peter Wood guided Tom Wiedel onto a decent 45 pound bull. Please bear in mind that 45 pounds is well above the Chewore average. Anyhow, Bob Glick was to hunt with PH Richard Tabor, and since that young hunter was on a roll with two 60 pounders under his belt in as many months, I felt it highly likely that he and his trackers would continue to ride the wave.

I soon discovered that everyone shared my optimism and from the word go a cracking pace was set. On the first day, PH Tabor took us on a grueling hike through the escarpment foothills that run along the Chibara (little bullet) River, on our area’s southern boundary. Copious quantities of sweat produced very little elephant sign and no evidence of big bulls at all. We did see a couple of cow herds and some sable on a far off ridge. Amongst the elephants seen, we spotted two huge tuskless cows. Although a tuskless was on Bob’s agenda (as well as a buffalo and a couple of plainsgame animals), nothing but elephant bull even entered the equation at that stage of the game. We were men on a mission and we were going to focus on that mission wholly. Our excursion to the escarpment foothills yielding naught, we headed back down towards the Angwa River in the late afternoon to scout about in that area. Whilst making our way out of the hills, we were informed on the radio that Gary Meade (Bob’s buddy who was hunting with PH Peter Wood) had taken a big tuskless cow. Good omen for all on the first day.

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Physically speaking, the days that followed were much of a muchness and comprised walking, walking and more walking. Occasionally a day would comprise driving, driving and more driving, and these were the days that challenged us most of all. Fortunately, they were few and far between. I guess it was panning out at about 20% horsepower and 80% manpower, which is always a good thing. Although far more enjoyable than driving around looking for fresh tracks, our regular hikes were extremely testing, make no mistake. Most of the time we were in the mountains or walking riverbeds, and I’m still uncertain which I prefer. I think my toes prefer the mountains but am still not too sure about my calves! At least I only had my camera to carry and I can’t say I felt too sorry for Bob and Richard, lugging around their Krieghoff doubles as they were. No, of course I didn’t offer to share the burden. That is why there is a clear distinction between a cameraman/journalist and a hunter. Journalist carries camera and hunter carries rifle – simple. At times on Bob’s hunt, specifically after many hours trudging down the Chewore River, I found myself thinking how I wished hunter carried rifle and camera and journalist nothing! At those times, journalist felt as if he couldn’t carry himself another step. It’s funny how we just keep going eh? No matter how exhausted we are.

Each and every day began at 4 a.m. and ended well after dark. Most often we rolled back into camp around 8 or 9 p.m. Each day we headed north, towards the mountains, timing it so that we would be close to one of several observation points at daybreak. As the sun breached the eastern horizon, we would spend a little time glassing the vast bushveld below, looking for we certainly knew what. Early one morning, we spotted a herd of buffalo in this fashion and decided to go take a look. A short follow-up and stalk ensued, and then Bob effectively demonstrated to us his ability with a .500 double rifle. Standing half way up and shooting over an anthill, Bob made a perfect off-hand shot on a fine buffalo bull 75 yards off. The bull did not drop, but as it turned, Bob smote it again with his second barrel, spining it and putting it down for good. Great shooting it was, but the best was yet to come. That best came a few days later after some more hardcore elephant hunting, when Bob took a kudu bull at 152 yards at the Kachowe/Chewore river junction. 152 yards with a double .500??? Can you believe it? Believe it.

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Although I have hunted in Chewore South on and off for some years now, Bob’s hunt introduced me to some new and fascinating country. This area is a mountainous region flanking the upper end of the Chewore River (as upper as I’ve been anyway), and accessible only by way of a primitive track known as Pete Fick’s road. I don’t know what Pete Fick was thinking the day he decided to open that road. I don’t know what the guys who named it were thinking either when they gave it the title ‘road’. Pete Fick’s road is the ultimate 4x4 challenge, and though Rich Tabor tried his utmost to avoid it, wear and tear on his new cruiser still came about. We spent days hunting the mountains enveloping the Chewore River and it was tough going to say the least. As hard hunting as I’ve ever done. As challenging as it was, it was great hunting experience for us all and I enjoyed my time in that unfamiliar country tremendously. Not only did I enjoy myself, I will now also be able to finally put The Elephant Slayer’s (aka JPK) long overdue hunting journal together. Very difficult to write about an area you don’t know. But now I understand what you mean, John – those mountains are brutal! Certainly comparable to the Mashambanzhou in the muscle usage department! God, I discovered muscles I didn’t even realize were there! You know me, John, am I allowed to refer to them as muscles?

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Anyway, the days passed and we never came upon a decent sized track that was fresh enough to follow. We saw a fair number of bulls, in the mountains and elsewhere, but they were all too young. We also saw some decent tracks, but they were either too old or heading into another area. As we struck out day after day, so we intensified the effort, pushing ourselves harder and further, never contemplating failure. Although big elephant bulls were keeping a low profile, we experienced some awesome wildlife visuals, including a pride of lions and a 45 inch dagga boy on the Chewore River. Late in the evening of the ninth day, after a particularly draining hike down the Chewore River, Bob took a massive tuskless cow in spectacular fashion. When I say the cow was taken at last light, I mean there was two minutes of shooting light remaining. Bob attempted a frontal brain shot but was deceived by the angle of the cow’s head and shot a little high. Still, the .500 rocked the huge elephant to the core and she went down heavily. Back-up shots kept her down and then another cow came barreling and screaming towards us. A hasty back-off was called for but fortunately the enraged elephant stopped and turned away before any warning shots were fired.

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The early morning of day 10 found us following a decent elephant bull track for the first time. At least, we thought it was decent. It looked decent until we saw disappointing ivory that PH Tabor said may or may not have gone thirty pounds. After the three hour tracking session, we drove up to the Chewore River, to check on the progress of the recovery team who were butchering the tuskless cow. Actually, they had not started butchering as we had told them to wait for us to take photos - it had been too dark the evening before. After a brief photo session, progress began to take place. Noon came and went and, with the recovery almost complete, we headed out again, in search of that elusive big bull track. Just before 3 p.m., in some broken ground not far from the Kachowe River, we came across Jombo’s (Gumboot’s) track…..

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I’ve decided to post this in two instalments as I am pretty tired now. Please excuse the many blunders. This is a very abbreviated version of a journal I have begun writing for Bob Glick and my thoughts are wondering back and forth between this post, Bob’s journal, John’s journal, Captain Bob’s journal, Don’s journal…….Hmmmmm, I hope this post makes some sense to someone out there.

To all of my hunting buddies waiting for their journals, don’t give up hope, victory is in sight! Only Bob Glick’s is still in its infancy, the rest are close to print. Very soon now - I shall email them to you all for your approval.

Bob Glick came to hunt with us as a member of a 5 man hunting party. At the same time as we were hunting elephant in Chewore, David Schaible and Maurice (?) were hunting leopard and buffalo on Humani. Gary Meade and Steve (?) were only with us a few days, leaving to join David and Maurice once Gary had taken his buffalo. I’m so bad with these last names and I apologize. I may have a bit of an excuse for failing to remember Maurice’s, as I only met him once and briefly, but I shared camp with Steve for days! Sorry guys, I will find out what you last names are and fill in the gaps tomorrow. Anyhow, throughout Bob’s hunt, we were getting radio reports on progress from Humani, and each day came news of more success in the south. Our friends' successes only served to spur us on. Once I have finished relating the events of the elephant hunt, I shall tell what I know about David, Maurice, Gary and Steve’s hunts, and post some pictures of the great trophies they took on Humani.

Goodnight
Dave

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