I am starting a series of blogs where I want to share the adventures that I have had over the last few years. Please feel free to leave comments! I hope you enjoy them
In 2009, I had just completed my first hunt of the season with good friend of mine, Mr. Chuck Bridge of Manzanita, Oregon. Chuck was hunting with a .357 mag and a 50 caliber handgun. We started our hunt with plains game and we were after Klipspringer, Bush Pig, Duiker and Steinbeck. It was hard hunting as we had plenty of rain and the grass was tall and a lot of food and water all over. Chuck was rewarded with a 4” Klipspringer after 4 days of hard core hunting. As he said 4 days for 4” we should have hunted for longer and we might have gotten some more inches.
We then set off to hunt Buffalo with his 50 SW. We arrived in the hunting area to find tracks of a lone dagga boy. We had the help of the resident PH and 2 other PH’s. One of which was running the camera to ensure we captured the moment. The tracks lead into a thick reed bed marsh. We decided to walk on the opposite side to where we last saw the tracks. Moving along quietly and slowly, suddenly I caught the movement of a tail swishing. It was the bull. He was lying in thick grass under a small jackal berry tree. I set Chuck up on the sticks with his handgun and was getting ready to whistle to get the bull to stand up, when a Bushbuck female jumped up and spooked the bull. He jumped up and looked straight at us at 35 yards. Chuck was on him and was going to shoot him straight in the chest. He turned as Chuck fired.
At that distance we were not sure if we had hit him as we did not hear the bullet smack. We gave him a few minutes and then went across to where he was standing. There was no blood on the ground and my dog Zazoe was not interested in anything. I heard the Ox Peckers and at that moment one of the other PH’s saw the bull standing 40 yards from us. He took off before Chuck could get a shot on him. We followed in the direction in which he ran, as we could not find any tracks because of the terrain, I was listening out for the Ox Peckers, but we could not hear them.
We spread out to try and find some evidence as to where he had gone. Suddenly one of the PH’s (Gideon) called out, “Here he is!!” He grunted and came from our left. I put out the sticks for Chuck to shoot, but there was just no time. Chuck shot freehand and hit him in the chest. The bull was on us in no time. I pushed Chuck out of the way and we ducked for cover. The PH (Jacques) who was behind us took a shot as well. The bull knocked Chuck flying and then went on and rammed into Jacques, who was standing behind us.
He was sent flying and was tossed onto the top of an Acacia tree. He broke the top of the tree which caused him to fall to the base of the tree. The bull tried to get to him but luckily Jacques was protected by the base of the tree. Gideon ran into assist and shot the bull again, which then turned on him. Gideon tripped over a clump of tall grass, he fell, and the bull was on him in no time. It pushed and gored him into the ground and then tossed him into the air as if he was a rag doll. Chuck had recovered and shot again while we were running looking for rifles. The bull staggered and fell next to the PH it had just tossed into the air. We brained him one more time from behind and then it was finally all over. It felt like a lifetime, but the whole incident lasted less than 10 seconds. Wow!
We assessed the injuries and I ran back a few kilometers to the hunting vehicle to get a phone. Fortunately we were able to get help in no time. Jacques had holes on both sides of his hips, one from the horn and the other from the top of the tree. Gideon was gored on his right thigh. He had a huge amount of damage, but was taken to hospital quickly where he has been well taken care and after 6 hours of surgery the doctors repaired the damage. He will be on his feet in a few weeks.
We were very lucky no one was killed. We had God’s hand over us that day.
The next day we travelled up to Hazyview in Mpumalanga where they were having problems with Hippo. We got there in the evening as this was the perfect time to try and get the problem Hippo. We were well rigged for the outing. We searched all over for the Hippos but we had no luck on our side. It had been a long 2 days and we were exhausted from the couple of days’ adventure so far. Chuck needed to have a long nap in the vehicle, whilst we were travelling back to the camp.
We decided to pack up for the night as there was too much noise and we thought the Hippos might have a party of their own somewhere else. We were about 10 km from the area when the ranger from parks board got a call from the local women which had reported the problem with the Hippos. Chuck was beat and did not have a good feeling about this. He was still shook up from the Buffalo and was feeling very stiff. However, we managed to convince him to try one more time and we were off back to the village.
We moved in slowly as it was dark and around 11:00pm. We could hear them in the corn crunching. It was a very weird and surreal set up as it was a Friday night and a long weekend and all the locals were in high spirits. It sounded like we were at the party too. We located what seemed to be a bull. I got Chuck all set up and we turned on the light. There he was. Chuck shot a perfect heart shot and we followed up with our rifles. The Hippo dropped and then got up and went into the reeds. We gave him a few minutes and then went to check him out. Chuck followed up with a brain shot to make a hundred percent sure as we did not want another buffalo story. It was all over by 00:15am. He was a monster.
We went back the next day to get pictures and skin him out. All was taken care of and we took a few days off to recover from all the excitement. We hunted for a warthog and Chuck finished off his incredible experience with a perfect heart shot on a huge bodied warthog with long bottom tusks.
I want to thank Chuck for the great experience we shared together and hope he recovers soon. My friend, this is your very own unique African story and I hope you enjoy reliving each moment with your friends.
Take care all and remember to live your legendary experiences.
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