Hard Culling

[inyati13]

PREFACE: sim.ang.-king don’t put this in the BS meter, call Richard Brebner.

Dust was still swirling in the dry Zimbabwe air. The young bull was now out of sight as he was headed to join the rest of the herd. I looked at Richard as our team regrouped. In that pleasant Zimbabwean accent, Richard says, “Shyt Ron, that was too close. I was about to put one over his head.”

We were on an elephant culling operation in the Chewore Safari Area. Chewore is in the Zambezi Valley. The objective was to walk into a herd of elephants, find a tuskless cow, assure she was w/o calf and shoot her. We had been at it for about 5 days. I was wishing to the God of the hunt every evening that we would not find one. I was having too much fun getting up close and personal with elephants in their own habitat. It was September and the area had been in drought for years. Elephants had congregated and were using their mass to push over acacia trees for forage.

We had been tracking a small herd of about 20. They were just up ahead standing out of the heat in a riverine area. The ground was simply dirt every where. One of the Shangoni trackers stooped and turned his head to the right. Back in the shadows of the woods, I could see an elephant. I don’t hear great but my eyes have always been sharp. I began to make out another bull standing much bigger and taller to the right of the young bull but it was the young bull that was starting to shake his head and prance like my dog Blue does when he is getting out of the truck at the farm. There was about 7 of us. Richard, me, two Shangoni trackers, a couple of bearers, and a Park Game Ranger. The Game Ranger carried a Chinese assault rifle. It was a relic of when the Chinese aided the black Zimbabweans lead by Robert Mugabe during the Rhodesian War that formed Zimbabwe from Southern Rhodesia.

When the young bull made a charge, Richard and I stood shoulder to shoulder and the rest began a retreat behind us. Most charges are mock but you don’t know that. Richard held his .416 Remington 700 at port arms and I did the same with my .375 H&H Winchester M70 Pre 64 style claw extractor. The young bull came through the brush breaking trees and kicking up a dust storm. Just about the time you had to decide if he was going to need some serious persuasion, he broke off. Just like any teenager, he flaunted his butt at us as he and his bigger brother broke back to the herd.

We regrouped. The Game Ranger was acting like he was totally uninterested. You need to know this. When you hunt where protected animals are, the PH will not shoot to protect anyone but the Client usually. They are scared shytless to lose their license especially if they are a white PH. PH have been killed because they were desperate to not shoot protected game. I was with a PH near Wankie National Park when we ran into a black rhino. The PH told me later he didn’t even know if he would have shot it to save my life. He said shooting a black rhino even if you are in the right, will get you so much red tape, you would probably lose you license.

The trackers quickly picked up the tracks. Have you ever seen an elephant track in the dust? Usually, you never catch-up with a herd after that kind of disturbance. But we did. Now Richard and I penetrated the herd alone. The rest stayed out of our perimeter. We got right into this herd. Elephants were in front of us and on both sides. He found a tuskless cow just ahead of us. He watched for 15 minutes. He whispers, “She has no calf, Ron.” I have never gotten nervous since my first couple of deer. And I didn’t. We had already discussed our plan. I told him the only way I would kill an elephant was with a brain shot. If I can remember, he stated that he had never let a client make a brain shot. I told him I was adamant. He said ok, but the millisecond you shoot, if she is not on her way down, I am going to shoot. Is that OK. I said yes. I was told to move in until I was about 15 yards from her and shoot her. I got probably 20 yards. I am confident with a gun in my hands. I drew the line from the eye to the ear hole. Then moved down about 6 inches. I was checking my angles to make sure I could hit that loaf of bread inside a 100 gallon drum. The recoil of the rifle was pleasant. Her back legs folded and she went down and rolled toward me on her left side. Richard came to me yelling put one in her spine. I put one in her back just in front of the pelvis. Shoot her again. I did in the same place.

 

[3waycross]

Ruark!

 

[inyati13]

Ruark!

I have read them all.
Something of Value, my favorite. Got most of his books. Ruark's first bestselling novel was published in 1955. Entitled Something of Value, it describes the Mau Mau Uprising by Kenyan rebels against British rule. The novel drew from the author's personal knowledge and experiences on safari in Africa, and was adapted into a successful 1957 film, Something of Value. Uhuru, a novel with a similar theme, but not intended to be a sequel, was published in 1962. "Uhuru" is the Swahili word for freedom. He had intended to write a final chapter in the series with the working title of A Long View From a Tall Hill, but this never materialized.

And what about Bell. I know you have read him. The Bell of Africa, Walter Dalrymple Maitland Bell (1880–1954), known as Karamojo Bell, was a Scottish adventurer, big game hunter in East Africa,[1] soldier, decorated pilot, sailor, writer, and painter.

Vic, I have basically read every book related to hunters in Africa, even Capstick. I got to tell you in case you have not been to Africa. The PHs laugh at Capstick, they say he makes it sound like you cannot take a shyt w/o getting eaten by a lion or bitten by a mamba. Remember his story about a mamba in the crapper. He took a little 20 ga out emptyed both barrels at it and blew shyt all over him.

Vic, in 1987, I hunted in the lowveld of Zimbabwe on an operation called Buffalo Range operated and owned by Clive Style of British decent. We sat in his 100 year old stone house and listened to stories about his father and grandfather clearing out the Cape Buffalo and Lions so they could run cattle. He was a legend and is now probably forgotten in a country that has gone to he$$. People younger than you or I may not remember but Rhodesia was one of the most amazing countries in the history of this planet. They were one of the last white led governments. Rhodesia a British Colony. The whole world was against them. But it was not sanctions that broke them, it was the relentless terroist war led by Robert Mugabe. Don't get me wrong. I do not judge or take sides. But those white farmers and industrial giants may have been the most self reliant, innovative, and determined people that have ever been.

 

[inyati13]

One more thing. If you have ever read Something of Value about the Mau Mau, do you remember that to become a member of that movement what you had to perform as a ritual? It would not be appropriate to repeat it with the audiance here. If you have forgotten, it is time for you to read that book again!!!

 

[greybeard]

One more thing. If you have ever read Something of Value about the Mau Mau, do you remember that to become a member of that movement what you had to perform as a ritual? It would not be appropriate to repeat it with the audiance here. If you have forgotten, it is time for you to read that book again!!!

It seems there was a lot of that "had to" kind of thing involved. A long read of sorts.
Mau Mau Memoirs

 

[inyati13]

One more thing. If you have ever read Something of Value about the Mau Mau, do you remember that to become a member of that movement what you had to perform as a ritual? It would not be appropriate to repeat it with the audiance here. If you have forgotten, it is time for you to read that book again!!!

It seems there was a lot of that "had to" kind of thing involved. A long read of sorts.
Mau Mau Memoirs

That is it. The ritual. When it says that they drank from the gourd with goats blood and other liquids, those liquids are described in Ruark's book. Not a pleasant beverage by Ruark's telling. Thanks. I was not sure anyone else on here ever heard of the Mau Mau. Afterall, seems like most are younger than you and I. :cboy:

 

[3waycross]

I have loved Ruark and Hemingway since I was kid. The others not so much!.

I grew up surrounded by men's men. they worked hard, hunted hard, and drank even harder. Dam I was lucky!

BTW my favorite Ruark's are the two Old Man books!

I did like Death in the Tall Grass though.

 

[inyati13]

I have loved Ruark and Hemingway since I was kid. The others not so much!.

I grew up surrounded by men's men. they worked hard, hunted hard, and drank even harder. Dam I was lucky!

BTW my favorite Ruark's are the two Old Man books!

I did like Death in the Tall Grass though.

:lol:
Peter Hathaway Capstick. Peter Hathaway Capstick (1940–1996) was an American hunter and author. Born in New Jersey and educated at (although did not graduate from) the University of Virginia, he walked away from a successful Wall Street career shortly before his thirtieth birthday to become a professional hunter, first in Central and South America and later (and most famously) in Africa. Capstick spent much of his life in Africa, a land he called his "source of inspiration".[2] A chain smoker and heavy drinker, he died at age 56 from complications following heart surgery.[3]
I think he was living in South Africa when he died. He was a bit over-sold but he did more to promote African Hunting than anyone except maybe Craig Boddington. Both of those guys at one time or another were in the same camp I hunted out of in Chewore. His books are great enertainment but if you want substance read Bell and there are some others. Boddington is a contemporary writer who actually provides substance.