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Real Time Advantages of Oil Exploration Cover Photo by Butch Ramirez 2nd ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE
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A Shot of Texas Magazine™ Safari Issue 2015
Robert & Teffany Kahn
7 Real Time Advantages of Oil Exploration By: Sam Miller
A Shot of Texas “Big Shots”
Kendall Rae Kahn Camo Girl
8 Rough Days and Tough Nights in Three Rivers By: Jim Miller
Jessica Tanner
14 The King of the Antelope: Lord Derby By: Brian Welker
Rod Daigle
20 What’s in Your Water? By: Frank Giacalone
Terry Blaukamp
22 South African Bacon Bits By: Ty Weaver
Barbara Giacalone
26 A Father & Son Safari Journal By: Rod and Josh Daigle
Jim Miller
33 The Common Production Failures of Steel Pipe By: Industrial Writing Staff
Active Camo Products Backlash Offshore Berry Whitetails Capital Farm Credit Critter Gitters El Quinto Ranch FW Gartner GameGuard Grander Supply Grainger Ranch Recruiting Grizzly Coolers Gulf Land & Wildlife Hogsback Ranch Innovative Turnaround Controls Larco Industries. Lonesome Coyote Ranch MB Ranch Realty Medical Plaza Mobil MG Arms MyCore Control Inc. Performance Top Drives Record Buck Ranch South Coast Products Thandeka Safaris The Infinity Group Tomorrow River Ranch Top Flight Hunting Preserve Welker Intl.
Founders/ Co-Editors
Assistant Editor
Industrial Editor Shooting Editor Travel Editor
Bow Hunting Editor
Butch Ramirez
Wildlife Photographer
Contributing Writers: Barry Stewart Efrain Martinez Frank Giacalone Kerry Oday Larry Weishuhn Shamus Dartanyon
Robert & Teffany Kahn, Editors
34 Queen of the Beasts! By: Amanda Gray 39 Keystone XL: Here Comes the Cavalry... but a Little Late? By: Industrial Writing Staff 40 The Africa You Don’t See By: Barbara Giacalone 46 My First Morning on Africa Safari By: Robert Kahn
Well, A Shot Of Texas Magazine has officially completed two full years and we are celebrating with our Second Safari Issue! This year we have expanded from 32 pages to 48 pages, grown from 6 issues per year to 8, and our circulation has soared from 10,000 to 20,000. If that was not enough, we have added 201 distribution locations in the Eagle For Shale and Permian Basin and now reach 497 Presidents in the Dakotas. We are setting our sights on new growth in 2015, as our goal is to reach 30,000 in circulation and to expand into Louisiana, Oklahoma and Montana. As the Editors of A Shot Of Texas Magazine, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our advertisers, readers, staff and writers who have made it all possible. We work hard in INDUSTRY so we can play hard OUTDOORS! Sincerely, Tef & Rob
Photo courtesy of our Africa Editor, Frank Giacalone (CEO, Navasota Energy) C 2014 A Shot of Texas Magazine. All Rights Reserved. Printed in the USA. For current Media Kit, advertising or questions about our Traveling Trade Show contact Rob Kahn. Email rob@ashotoftexas.net Office 512-746-2729 or Cell 832-922-1508
2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 3
A
United Rentals finds solution in A Shot of Texas Magazine!
fter seeing an advertisement detailing Larco Industries’ service offerings in ‘A Shot of Texas,’ United Rentals Pump Solutions contacted the company about a highly specialized and unprecedented pump design project. Pump Solutions’ design team was in the early stages of engineering the largest pump in the history of the rental equipment industry – a 30,000 lb., Pioneer 30” pump (model PP3030). A pump of this magnitude (30” suction and discharge, 34” impeller, 600 HP Engine) would require a specially designed skid that could safely with-
TRR newspaper:Layout 1
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stand the pump and engine weight as well as support the high flow this massive pump would produce at full operating capacity. After contacting Leroy Fagg, Vice President of Larco Industries, and reviewing the project scope, Leroy contacted Jimmy Sikes with
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Richard Design Services for engineering and design input. The Pump Solutions team felt confident that Larco Industries and Richard Design Services were the right groups to handle the unique task of engineering and fabricating a safe custom skid.
The 30” high volume pump fabrication is now complete. The pump is now installed on a Florida mine site, where it is capable of moving clear liquids at an unprecedented 42,000 gallons per minute. Without the help of Larco Industries and Richard Design Services, Pump Solutions would not have been able to build a pump of this magnitude. Pump Solutions can proudly assert that the Pioneer 30” Pump is the largest and highest performing industrial pump of itskind. Partnering with Larco Industries and Richard Design Services was integral in achieving this engineering feat.
PERFORMANCE TOP DRIVES & CUSTOM HUNTING RIGS Waupaca, Wisconsin
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4 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
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A Shot of Texas Magazine Spring Turkey Hunt . Contact rob@ashotoftexas.net for details
A short one hour drive west of San Antonio lays Record Buck Ranch. We have 20,000 acres of beautiful terrain that varies from open green pasture to a rolling brushy hill country. We hunt it all, giving you different experience with each and every hunt.
Looking for a Trophy Hunt or to set a New World Record? Some of the largest Whitetails harvested in the World?
Our experienced guides stake their reputations on finding you world class trophies. Big terrain offers various levels of challenge, with unsurpassed opportunities for novice hunters, experienced hunters and hunters with special needs. • Fabulous lodging, great meals, and top quality trophies!
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• Visit our website and read about us in upcoming issues of A Shot of Texas Magazine. Drop us a line when you read about us and we will send you a beautiful shooters bag.
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November/December Issue 2014 A Shot of Texas Magazine™ 5
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The Real Time Advantages of Oil Exploration Metrics
W
hat took accountants, engineers and geoscientists in an oil exploration enterprise days and weeks, now only takes minutes. With oil exploration metrics, making data analysis is now faster than ever.
Business intelligence (more popularly known today as business performance management system) used to be restricted to the territories of the chief financial officer of an oil exploration company. The other key persons granted access to these intelligence data in the company were the E&P, accountants and financial analysts. The purpose of having such business intelligence and performance management systems was to be more efficient in handling resources, reduce cost and augment return on investment. But as the operation of the oil company grows, its demand for integration of data for operation and finance has also increased. There are now more people in the company than ever who are in need of greater access to this data. A new approach in business intelligence has now become the driving force of these companies; this is called the oil exploration metrics. The principles behind the new metric for oil exploration are basically the same as those traditional business intelligence tools. The improvement is found, though, on the presentation side. See: as the company grows, its volume of data also expands. Data like power computation and surveillance instrumentation need to
be processed efficiently and intuitively using cost effective visualization techniques. These visuals will then become available not only to accountants, CFOs, CEOs and financial analysts but
sources (be they financial or non-financial.) These factors are constant troubleshooting on upstream assets, monitoring, and incessant production planning. Oil exploration demands real time visualization
also to operators, geoscientists and engineers. Everyone is a cog in the wheel in these oil exploration ventures; that is why everyone should be given access to these overwhelming yet critical presentations of data. The metrics for oil exploration today covers not just the financial side. There are essentially three decisive factors that will lead a company to producing more oil and spending fewer re-
and monitoring of operations that help key persons in fast decision making and analysis. It has never been truer than today, as oil exploration becomes more remote and more challenging. Data from different locations and multiple departments need to be processed fast. What took weeks and days before, now only takes minutes to measure. There are generally three areas of an oil exploration
By Sam Miller
project where metrics play an important role. The three areas where potential metrics can be drawn are costs and expenses, revenue and realization, and production. Under the costs and expenses aspect, the following are the most common key indicators: ad valorem taxes, lease operating costs, work over costs per boe, lifting costs per boe, and general lifting costs. This aspect has the least number of metrics, however, tracing the cost of the operation is just as important as tracing how profitable the exploration is. Under the revenue and realization aspect, the following metrics indicate good and bad performance: profit – noe, oil per barrel, gas per $ Mcf, net processing income, lease income, oil sales and gas sales. Under production, the following serve as metrics: well downtime, water cut, well tests, well head pressure, gas oil ratio, your liquids yield, water produced, and the overall daily and monthly oil production. The impact and importance of oil exploration metrics have dramatically increased and been revolutionized over the last few years. No longer will engineers and accountants wait for weeks to analyze and come up with good decisions. With these metrics, analysis of engineering and financial data is now made real time. 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 7
ROUGH DAYS AND LONG NIGHTS IN THREE RIVERS
I
know most of you remember the western movie “Rough night in Jericho”. This is my story about rough days and nights in Three Rivers, Texas. I wanted to take a Scimitar Horned Oryx in October of 2011 before the Feds shut down the hunting. After visiting with Jason Mims at Frijolia Ranch in Three Rivers, Texas he agreed to let me come down and hunt for one.
The Scimitar Horned Oryx is an Antelope native to all of North Africa. It has been classified as extinct in the wild by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. They inhabit steppe (grasslands) and desert eating leaves, grass and fruit. They now live in herds of mixed sex containing up to seventy animals although they formerly would gather in groups
Meet our New Bow Hunting Editor, Jim Miller
I
ntroducing A Shot of Texas Magazine’s new Bow Hunting Editor, Jim Miller. Miller is the brains behind www.texmexoutdoors.com and the upcoming show, Tex Mex Outdoors on The Hunt Channel. His columns are featured in all over the hunting world including publications like Bowhunting.net, Safari Club International Magazine, Texas Sporting Journal, Houston Safari Club Magazine, Petersen Bow Hunting Magazine. We are excited to share his stories and expert reviews. 8 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
of several thousand during migration. Because their kidneys prevent loss of water from urination and because they can modify their body temperature to avoid perspiration Scimitar Horned Oryx can survive without water for many weeks. They are a very hardy animal surviving in a very harsh environment. The Scimitar Oryx were hunted for their horns, almost to extinction. In Texas there are large herds on numerous ranches. They have adapted completely to the hot, dry Texas climate, which is excellent country for raising these beautiful animals. Having white bodies you would think they would stand out like the proverbial sore thumb in the harsh brush country, but they are hard to spot and even harder to hunt. To make things more of a challenge they have excellent eyesight. The the first morning hunt it was a hot 90 degrees. Before daylight we were sweating as we crawled into our blind. With me were RW, my cameraman, and our guide, Bubba. As we sat and sweated daylight was slowly but patiently crawling to life out of the East. Beautiful gray, purple, blue and golden hues shown through the morning sky. How beautiful this morn-
ing was breaking. As I drew my Z-7 Mag back to make sure everything was working it came unglued! To this day I can not tell you why this happened but that broke the beautiful silence of the morning. As I held my bow in hand I looked down and saw that my cables were off of the idler wheel. Everyone was asking at once “What happened”? I looked at RW and said, “We’re headed for San Antonio to get my bow fixed”. What a way to start a hunt. A two hundred mile round trip and five hours later with one repaired bow we were back at the ranch and ready to go! Now it was really hot. I mean that white hot glaring heat that can stifle you down to being a sweat soaked hunter with no interest in hunting. Only wanting to sit in an air condition lodge and drink iced tea, cold water or an adult beverage I managed to convince Bubba and RW to head back out. We sat up at a waterhole in a blind under a huge shade tree. No Oryx showed up. The first day of hunting was a rough day in Three Rivers. The second day was not much better it. It was just as hot as the day before and nothing moved. After sitting in the ground blind for 4 hours in the morning we went to a
local BBQ place for a long, cool lunch. During lunch Bubba said, “No need to be in the blind before 5:30 PM”. WRONG! When we arrived at 5:30 PM a group of the Oryx was already at the tank. We decided to ease right up to the tank and RW & I would try to get the shot on film. Well that did not work. We were spotted or winded. Either way we finished up the weekend with no arrows released. I was able to return to the ranch between Christmas and New Year’s. The weather had changed dramatically with lows in the 30’s and highs in the 60’s. The first day on the ranch we hunted with main guide, Tony. He was one of the best guides and trackers I have ever hunted with. The Scimitar Oryx were again hard to find and even more difficult to stalk! Tony and I had tried on numerous occasions to stalk these Oryx only to be spotted by one of the
herd. Because of their ability to blend into the terrain we unexpectedly scared them up several times and blew our chance for a shot. The next day Tony and I would get in a blind and hunt a food plot. Being legal to put out protein pellets in Texas we spread the bait hoping to lure some in. I had one lone bull come in very cautiously. It must have taken that bull a half of an hour to get to a spot where we could get an ethical shot. I also had two different whitetail bucks come in and browse on guayacan (pronounced “ya-cahn), an important browse plant for deer. It has 16 to 18 percent crude protein! The bucks never saw me and the Bull Oryx continued to feed. I drew my bow and released. The arrow entered the bull as he was quartering away and passed through the bull, landing 10 yards on the other side of him. The bull took off running low. At about 50 yards he
turned to my left and there was a huge blood spot on the bull. I knew then my rough three days were over. Tony and I waited the obligatory thirty minutes before taking up the blood trial. For the first 1 & ½ miles, and you did read that right, the bull was running and throwing blood on both sides of his body. The bull stopped running and was now walking. We followed that bull for another ½ mile and Tony’s excellent tracking skills got us thru the last quarter of a mile and we walked right up to the dead bull, almost 2 miles from where I had shot him. What a Trophy! The Oryx had 43 inch horns and 7 inch bases. This was one of the toughest animals I have ever hunted. When we took the bull to the skinning rack we did an autopsy. My arrow had entered between the 6th & 7th rib and had taken out the diaphragm, liver, and both lungs and cut a
huge gash out of the heart but never entering the chamber of the heart, exiting out the left side between the 5th & 6th ribs! Yet this bull ran almost 2 miles. This was some of the best meat I have ever eaten, high in flavor and very tender. If you decide to hunt Scimitar Horned Oryx make sure you take only a quartering away shot, shoot as much poundage on your bow that you can handle and keep your shots under 25 yards. These are tough animals, very beautiful and very expensive. So do yourself a favor and make sure your ready for the hunt. Please note that as of March 17, 2014 these animals have been taken off of the endangered species list and you do not need any special Federal permits to move your Scimitar Oryx. You need only a $50.00 dollar exotic permit from the state of Texas. Good Hunting! Jim Miller
go get ’em . . .
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2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 9 4/16/14 9:50 AM
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November/December Issue 2014 A Shot of Texas Magazine™ 11
CAMO GIRL REVIEW What Has CAMO Girl Been Up To? Kendall Rae Kahn took this hog out at RecordBuck Ranch Contact Chuck or Kani to book and be sure and tell them we sent you!
This Explorer laptop brief case is simply the strongest and durable case we have ever used. I picked up this sample at the shot show last year. It has been from Alaska to Africa and to a dozen wild adventures. Our laptop and video camera arrive safe and sound everywhere we go. This gets the Camo Girl Seal of Awesomeness!
Later, Kendall Rae Kahn
12 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
Off. 409-866-9155 Email: leroy@larcoind.com
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Butch Ramirez:
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A Shot of Texas’ Wildlife Photographer
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ildlife & nature photographer from Laredo, TX, Butch has participated in several “photo safaris” all over the United States, including destinations such as Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Tetons, and Rocky Mountain National Parks. Butch and Zita Ramirez own the Rocking R6 Ranch near Laredo, TX, a ranch dedicated and designed for nature and wildlife photography, and one of the Borderlands and Cotulla ranches on which the ICF (Images for Conservation) host its Pro Am tournament.The ranch has also been chosen as one of the photography destinations for the annual Laredo Birding Festival. Butch has had several images, including numerous cover images, published in A Shot of Texas Magazine, Birdwatching Magazine, Nature’s Best Photography Magazine, Texas Sporting Journal, Cola Blanca Magazine, Texas Deer Assn. Tracks Magazine, and Bugle Magazine. In 2010, 2011, and 2014 some of Butch’s images were chosen under the designation “Best Whitetail Buck Photo” in the legendary Cola Blanca Big Buck contest in Laredo Texas. In November 2011, a canvas print of his winning photo was presented as a gift to President Obama, by a City of Laredo delegation. “My goal as a photographer is to share some of what I’ve been fortunate to see through my lens in hope of creating awareness and a deeper appreciation for wildlife and nature.“ T R O P H Y
W H I T E T A I L S
T R O P H Y
W H I T E T A I L S
Don’t let the name fool you T R O P H Y
W H I T E T A I L S
Welcome to Hogsback Ranch, Wisconsin’s trophy whitetail deer and elk hunting destination. Our hunting preserve specializes in providing quality, trophy whitetail and elk hunting opportunities Off. 409-866-9155 with fully-guided, all-inclusive Email: leroy@larcoind.com hunts on a wide variety of terrain. Modern lodging and amenitiesINDUSTRIES included. We take great pride LARCO Structural Fabrication in Steel providing our customers with www.larcoind.com world class hunting opportunities and big Northerm White tails. The Man Behind the Bucks: Nathan Wininger Phone: (715) 572-1724 or (715) 572-5938 WWW.HOGSBACKRANCH.COM
2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 13
The King of Antelope – By, Brian H. Welker, Chairman and CEO of Welker Energy
M
y wife, Denise, became obsessed with an Eland slam soon after she shot her first Eland in Tanzania, in 2011. We were hunting with Jack Brittingham’s Tanzania Adventure’s, Inc. with an amazing PH, Craig Middleton. It was after many miles on foot, stalk after stalk, we crossed paths with a huge East African Eland bull, and Denise made a perfect, one-shot kill. She didn’t know it at the time, but this huge, old monarch would possess her with the fever to try and get all the Eland subspecies. Once we were back at home from the trip, I showed her the other subspecies from Peter Flack’s book “Eland – Everyman’s Elephant“. As soon as she laid eyes on the Lord Derby Eland, she knew she wanted that one more than anything else! We went back to Tanzania with PH Craig Middleton again in 2012, and she shot another huge, old West African Eland after a very tough stalk. Now the pressure was on for me to book her the remaining Eland subspecies. At the 2012 SCI Convention, I booked a safari at Craig Middleton’s insistence with Dave & Maria’s Northern Operations Africa (NOA) for Denise’s Lord Derby Eland in C.A.R. The C.A.R. safari never came about do to rebellions and a shoulder surgery for me, but we did move it to the savannah of Cameroon with NOA in May 2014. Our PH for this safari was Ivan Carter, whom Denise had gotten her first elephant with the prior year 2013. In planning for this safari, Ivan had told us to prepare for tracking these animals walking for miles and miles in the savannah heat! Living near Houston and the Gulf coast, exercising daily in the excruciating summer heat and humidity for months prior to the safari worked in our advantage for the forthcoming trip. Every day we worked hard in preparing for this hunt, and it’s a good thing we did! Arriving in Douala, Cameroon you could not help but notice the oppressive heat in the non-air conditioned airport. It was incredible! 14 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
We spent the night at a hotel in Douala, and early the next morning flew to Garoua where we began a four and a half hour drive to go about one hundred and twenty miles! Yes, the roads were that bad. Huge pot holes, people walking all over them, flat tires, over-loaded vehicles, and wrecks; it was an experience we won’t soon forget. Once we arrived in camp, it became clear the difficult trek had been worth it. Everything in camp was remarkably comfortable. The camp staff greets you with refreshing drinks, you relax and begin to think about the hunt to come as the evening rolls around. The first priority was Denise’s Lord Derby Eland, so early the next morning we eat a fresh fruit breakfast and headed out for the day. The temperature was actually a little chilly, so we thought this
Lord Derby Eland
won’t be that bad. Well, by 9:00 AM, I’m here to tell you that the oven had been turned on ! It was easily 100 degrees by then, and dry as a bone, no humidity in the Cameroon savannah. By noon, every single day we were looking at 120 to 130 degree heat. With all the walking we did, we drank gallons of water a day and took electrolyte replenishment pills like candy. Each day we would find tracks of some big bulls and follow them for hours, covering many miles. For the first eight days we saw many Lord Derby’s, but they were younger bulls. Several passed the magical 50” mark, but they were just too young. Denise wanted an older bull, even if she had to sacrifice horn length. One thing of notice on these incredible stalks, day-after-day, that is very hard to describe, is the ground surface texture. In all our preparations at home, we were dealing with the heat okay, as long as we drank plenty of water. The one thing we could not prepare for was this crazy ground surface texture ! During the rainy season, the oversize earthworms dig miles of ground up and make the golf ball size nuggets which during the dry season harden rock hard (see photo of Denise). These nuggets do not crush when you step on them, you
just have to pick and weave your way through, it’s a real balancing act. One thing for sure, whatever you’re wearing on your feet will get shredded, and your ankles will get sore! This is the toughest walking surface I’ve ever spent any time on! On the ninth day, Ivan and the trackers found a small group of bulls with an old, heavy, and broomed down bull – the final stalk was on! Several times they were approached just to move off further into the dense forest. After crossing a dry riverbed and stalking down the edge in the dense trees, there he was, totally unsuspecting, in the middle of a small opening showing off for the females. Ivan had Denise set up on the sticks with her Heym 450-400 double ri-
fle and she squeezed off the perfect shot right into the bulls shoulder, through the heart. He only ran about thirty to forty yards and fell over stone dead! It took several minutes for her to realize what she had done; she had just made a perfect shot on the King of all Eland, THE Lord Derby! This amazing animal is everything she had imagined – it truly is beautiful beyond description. As she knelt down to touch his huge, thick horns she nearly came to tears with joy! Her dream Eland, in the hot, hostile Cameroon savannah was now hers! Celebration by the trackers, our PH Ivan Carter, videographer Andy MacDonald, and me followed for some time before photo session began. After the photo session was over, and this giant was loaded into the truck (see photo of this feat), reflecting on her accomplishment left us all extremely fulfilled! We did go on to shoot several other unique animals from the Cameroon savannah, but Denise had gotten her Lord Derby Eland! Since this incredible adventure, Denise has gone on to complete the Eland Slam with all four subspecies: the East African in 2011 and 2012, the Lord Derby in March 2014, the Cape in March 2014, and finally the Livingston’s in September 2014. 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 15
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What’s in Your Water
T
o be clear we are talking about rivers, lakes and streams. This appears to be a simple question. Here in the USA we rarely give it much thought. Water sports are a great American pastime……fishing, water skiing, boat and swimming. We expect fish, mollusks, crustaceans and turtles to be sure. In some more limited circumstances to be sure our water is home to snakes and even an alligator or two in some southern states.
20 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
By Frank Giacalone
In Africa, life is different. And aquatic life has some more attention-grabbing inhabitants……some of which the local folks deal with every day…….in most all the rivers and lakes. The Zambezi River is the fourth largest river in Africa running about 1,500 miles from Zambia to the Indian Ocean along the shore of Mozambique. One of the original Seven Wonders of the World, Victoria Falls and its gorge system can be found between the Upper Zambezi and Middle Zambezi River. Most of the Middle Zambezi was dammed up to create one of the largest man-made lakes in the world, Lake Kariba. Most of Lake Kariba spans the shores of Zambia to the north and Zimbabwe to the south. The Zambezi River is home to all manner of birds and aquatic life. But unlike most bodies of water in the USA most common water sports bring enormous hazards. Most of the native people along Lake Kariba live a subsistence life based mostly on fish and the small patches of vegetables they raise that don’t get eaten by cape buffalo, hippopotamus and elephant .Most local people subsist on Bream and Tiger Fish which they catch from the shore or with nets from small boats. For those who fish, the Tiger fish is an excellent game fish, putting up quite a fight from the water to the boat. These fish are similar to Piranha found in South America but can be larger. The ones I caught were in the 4-5 lb class but I have seen pictures of fish as large as 40 lbs.
Competition for these fish comes from a combination of lizards, birds, ducks, geese, eagles and hawks……and crocodiles. Lots of crocodiles and the variety found most commonly in southern Africa is the Nile Crocodile. The Nile crocodile is a large and aggressive species with a broad snout, especially in older animals. It has a dark bronze coloration and darkens as the animal matures . These Crocs live in a variety of freshwater habitats but can also found in brackish water. Crocs are known as an apex predator that is capable of taking a wide array of African vertebrates, including large ungulates and other predators……and people, accounting for 300 deaths a year on Lake Kariba alone. On Lake Kariba the typical crocodile is 10 to 14 feet long and weighs upwards of 1,000 pounds. The big mature ones can grow as large as 17 feet long and weigh upwards of 2,000 pounds. This is the author’s 14 foot 3 ½ inch croc taken from Lake Kariba…. is one less for the locals to be concerned about. Also found in these waters in large quantities are hippopotamus. The hippo is a large, mostly herbivorous mammal but hippos do eat fish and other aquatic creatures that get close during feeding. The name comes from the ancient Greek for “river horse” and, after the elephant and rhinoceros, is the third-largest type land mammal. Hippos are also reported to be the most dangerous animal in African accounting for over 3,000 people each year. Hippos are recognizable by their barrel-shaped tor-
sos, enormous mouths and teeth, nearly hairless bodies, stubby legs and great size. Adults average 3,300 lbs for males and 2,900 lbs for females. Despite its stocky shape and short legs a hippo can easily outrun a human, being capable of reaching 19 mph over short distances. The hippopotamus is one of the most aggressive and unpredictable creatures in the world and, as such, ranks among the most dangerous animals in Africa. Here is the author with hippo bull taken from Lake Kariba in Zimbabwe 2014. The hippopotamus is semiaquatic, inhabiting rivers, lakes and mangrove swamps, where territorial bulls preside over a stretch of river and groups of five to 30 females and young . During the day, they remain cool by staying in the water or mud; reproduction and childbirth both occur in water. They emerge at dusk to graze on grasses. So when you are in Africa preparing to enjoy the pleasures of the large lakes and rivers found there and you see this sign take the warning very seriously. So, what’s in your water?
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South African by Ty Weaver
“C
ollarrou..ju muss calm widd mee! Hee’s en buttom, shasing un embra...Kwickly, muy pronto!” urged Weddo. Hurriedly I stuffed what was left of my half eaten ham sandwich into my mouth. Heading out of the door I grabbed my 7x57 Ruger rifle. In so doing I glanced at the clock, it was three in the afternoon. I had just gotten back to camp to grab a bite to eat when Weddo came to get me. After a long month and a half we are on a plane headed for Johannesburg South Africa to hunt with Limcroma Safaris. The flight is sixteen hours but every second is worth it. I would have travelled in the cargo bin just to get there. Sixteen hours is a long time to be on a plane but every trip is what you make of it. The best advice that I can give is to plan ahead. Each South African Airways seat in the economy section has an entertainment system with games, radio, movies etc. I took magazines and a 22 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
taxidermy catalog with me to pass some time. If I was allowed to carry on my Arizona E-Z Fletch, I would have made up a couple dozen arrows along the way. I did have it packed in my checked baggage. I actually take it on all of my adventures. It is the simplest fletching system on the market and in Africa it is a must have, especially if you shoot varmints and guinea fowl. You will be replacing fletching from arrows skipping across the red dirt. We always arrive South Africa in the eve-
ning and spend one night just outside of Johannesburg at the Afton Guest House for a good night sleep. The steak cooked over hot African hardwood coals is very tasty. Smelling the steaks cooking while staring into the hot coals makes you day dream about your pin settling on the vitals of many different African beasts. I have shot everything from jackals to elephants while staring into those coals! The coolest part about spending a night at the Afton is meeting a new friend. It happens every
Bacon Bits
time. Years ago we met Captain Mike from Florida at the Afton and we hunt together all the time now. On this trip I met a very nice gentleman named Donald Dvoroznak with Ripcord arrow rests. We told one story after another. He introduced me to the Bear Motive Six! I fell in love with that bow! Here’s how small the world really is: Donald lives out west and we live in Texas but we are all originally from Pennsylvania! Donald was a State Policeman in PA and visited my grandfathers
little bow shop several times in the small town of Franklin. Dinner that night was a blast and breakfast the next morning was much the same! A South Africa July winter morning is beautiful beyond description with the sun rising over the tree tops filled with giant steroid eating doves. The constant calling of the doves speaks Africa! After breakfast Mr. Donald headed to his safari destination and we headed 3.5 hours northwest to Limcroma situated in the Limpopo province on the Botswana
border. Rainer Visser picked us up at the Afton. That was a very special surprise because Rainer was my PH on my very first safari plus he likes biltong and ginger ale as much as I do, so it wasn’t long before we made a quick stop to get some. We arrived at the Limcroma river camp for brunch and settled into our chalet on the Crocodile River. The river was low but the fish were swirling everywhere and every few minutes Egyptian Geese squawked as they flew overhead. In min2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 23
recurve can do this afternoon.” Dad immediately jumped up and headed out back to take a few warm-up shots. We settled into a very large elevated blind overlooking a pond. Johan mentioned that this is a great blind for kudu. We weren’t there tem minutes when Johan raised his binoculars and pointed to the thick thorn brush. He whispered, “Monster kudu bull but he has a broken horn!” Dad immediately responded with, “That just adds character!” I knew dad wanted that kudu bad! Three nice kudu bulls came in but the old unicorn bull stayed put. Dad
utes we were unpacked, took a few practice shots with the bow and we were stalking the river bank for warthogs and bushbuck. We decided to stalk the river the first afternoon to kill some time until our PH and best buddy Johan arrived at camp. we were stalking along the steep bank of the river when we heard an Egyptian goose at the rivers edge sqwauking at the top of its lungs. We peaked over the edge to se what all the excitement was about and we noticed a big croc ten feet from the goose. It sounded like my Mom telling my lil sister to do her homework! The croc spooked and we stalked on. We didn’t have to stalk far before a big boar warthog was within bow range. I wanted dad to take a shot with his recurve but from his angle brush was in the way so he gave me the big eyes and head nod to take the shot. I did not hesitate a second to squeeze the trigger on my Equalizer release sending a 150 grain BuzzCut broadhead through the shoulders of Bacon Bits with a loud smack! The boar struggled to go thirty yards! I turned to give Dad the thumbs up but he was drawing his recurve and quickly released an arrow. He looked over his shoulder and gave me the thumbs up. I was a bit confused at first until he ran 20 yards and picked up a Francolin. Sweet, pork and fowl down the first afternoon! Johan joined us around the camp fire and we decided to sit in a blind the next morning overlooking a waterhole. We love taking Impala and some old mature rams were spotted in the area. We jumped into the blind early after a hot cup of coffee and home made rusk. This is a great combination to jump start a chilly morning. The wind was swirling a bit so we kept the Dead Down Wind e3 Scent Prevent Field Spray handy. It works a million times 24 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
better than burning dung! Nyala charged the waterhole along with some sable cows and young bulls. I could see a black-faced monster sable in the brush but he refused to walk to the water. We had thirty or more critters at the water but the big sable would not commit! In minutes the waterhole was vacant and all was quiet except for the hornbill looking in the blind window at me. I spotted a flicker of an ear off to my right and soon made out a heavy impala horn. An old ram was carefully analyzing his approach to the waterhole. As soon as he started to drink I sent the arrow on its way. I could tell the shot was true by the ram’s reaction. He couldn’t even pick up his head! Johan and Dad slapped me around a bit while celebrating. We waited a few minutes and replayed the footage confirming the shot was right on target. The blood trail was short and at the end was a nice mature ram! We took some nice photos and headed back to the lodge for lunch. Marcel our chef is amazing. She performs magic in the kitchen! After we finished eating Johan looked at my Dad and said, “Savuka, we need to see what that
could have easily shot any one of the other kudu but he wanted the big bodied unicorn bull with his recurve. The big bull didn’t budge for thirty plus minutes but finally he made his approach. As he approached the other kudu moved out of his way. When the bull was at 25 yards quartering away Dad sent a 150 grain Buzzcut angled into its vitals. The bull jumped and bolted out to 75 yards, stopped, swayed, and fell! Dad was shaking and kept mumbling, “stay down, stay down.” Dad wouldn’t even celebrate until he was absolutely positive the unicorn beast was down for good. We finally convinced Dad that the kudu was down for good when a Vulture landed on the bull! I’m not kidding! Reality finally hit Dad and the celebration was on! Even with one horn the kudu looked like Goliath. What an awesome trophy especially since it was his first recurve four legged critter! I was so happy for him. Dad always passes the shot and lets me shoot but now I understand why. The feeling, emotions and jump out of your skin excitement that you
experience while watching someone live their dream is priceless! How would we ever top this day? Well Johan came up with a plan while we were sitting around the fire staring at hot coals. He pointed to the hot coals and said, “Ty do you know what I see?” I gave him the go ahead and tell me look and smile. He said, “I see us back at the Impala blind in the morning and you are at full draw on that monster sable bull!” “That is our plan for the morning.” Now that is a plan that anybody would certainly go for. No sleep for me tonight! Johan was sure to tell me to “bring the magic Dead
tering away! As soon as he put his left front leg forward a 150 grain BuzzCut zipped through his pump station and skipped across the water! My head pounding and my vision blurred the black and white faced beast ran in slow motion to fifty yards, stopped and fell. I don’t recall what happened next as I was on adrenaline overload! I slowly began to regain my normalcy and joined Dad and Johan in the celebration. We calmed down and waited the scripted thirty minutes just to be sure while glassing the downed beast every ten seconds! I will never forget the feeling of amazement, gratitude, humble-
Down Wind juice to the blind for the swirling wind.” It was a very long night for me but the rusk and hot coffee hit the spot! We were dropped off at the blind a day break. We quickly sprayed down and were getting the video camera ready when Johan grabbed me and turned my head to the right. Suddenly an old sable bull appeared from the brush. Is this real or am I day dreaming while staring into the hot coals of an African fire? This can’t happen this fast, can it? The sable walked right to water but never stopped! He walked right through and back into the brush! Johan grabbed the DDW field spray and doused us one more time. He is apparently addicted to the “magic juice!” A big waterbuck came to the waterhole and started drinking. That’s all it took to convince the monster sable to come to water after he circled the blind first. Oh no, the old circle the blind and scent check trick! My knees were shaking and I was expecting the load roar and stampede but instead he literally walked beside the blind at ten yards and stepped into the water and stopped at twenty yards quar-
ness, accomplishment, and blessedness as I placed my hand on the magnificent animal. I stared at his scarred face and battered horns and I could see my reflection in his eye. I’ve never seen that before. Today was meant to be! We took a ton of photos and headed back to camp. I spoke with skinner Hamilton (Matswani) on how much cape to save because I have a special pose in my mind for this trophy. I can’t wait to get my hands on him in my taxidermy shop. Marcel prepared some incredible kudu meat pies for lunch and fresh orange mango juice. It was the prettiest, tastiest juice that I ever had! Johan, Dad, and me discussed another plan. We came up with the idea of building a few tree stands along the river for warthogs and bushbuck. We gathered up wooden logs / poles and wire because no nails were within 300 miles. We found a beautiful hook thorn tree right at the river bank overlooking a tall reed flat. With a little ingenuity and sweat we had a couple really cool stands built surrounded by warthog trails. I reload my quiver with 150 grain BuzzCuts. I love the 150 grain
head because it hammers game like a 458 magnum with total pass through! Its perfect medicine for pigs through the shoulders! So up the tree I go for what I hope is a Bacon Bit parade. As I’m admiring the ocean blue skies and the peaceful flow of the Limpopo River thrashing of reeds draws my attention. A brown hyena runs out of the reeds and up the river bank past my stand. Cool! Within minutes of that encounter here comes a big tusker on the same trail. No time to waste as the 150 slices through pig hide, meat, bone, lungs, everything but snot, and blood is just spraying everywhere like its coming out of a Wagner! I know Ms. Beautiful isn’t going far. Yup that big tusk pig was a female! So I do what every smart hunter does; give the critter at least 30 minutes, with hopes that another beast comes in! Yup at minute 29.5 a big nasty boar arrives. He immediately smells the lava flow of blood and does a Nadia Comaneci move to the right but I am already at full draw. Old Bacon Bits is quartering away and I send another 150 grainer through his shoulder and exits the opposite side of the neck. Red is the color of the moment and Bacon Bits runs 20 yards and turns into Jeff Gordon doing laps at Dover! He does a few tight laps and is down in sight. I leave my bow hanging and walk over to Bacon Bits first. I’m pumped that he is a big pig with nice Ivory. I now start tracking Ms. Beautiful. If blood was white it would have been like following lines on a highway. At 60 yards I spot her and I’m just about ready to talk to myself in celebration when I spot Ol’ Civet Cat admiring her awesome beauty. Ol’ Civet was so focused on Ms. Beautiful that he had no idea that I was just 20 yards behind him. I go into super quiet yet speedy stealth mode back to my tree stand for my bow! Never leave your bow behind! To my surprise Ol’ Civet is still whispering sweet nothings to Ms. Beautiful when I return so I send a 150 through his vitals ruining his moment with Ms. Beautiful. Such a love story with a happy ending! I shot 4 warthogs from this stand during this trip. Marcel will have tons of bacon bits for her salads and plenty of salt pork for breakfast! Ol’ Civet is a once in a lifetime trophy! To be continued. Stay tuned for part two. The bushbuck, klipspringer, spur winged goose and monster catfish action is unreal! We even break out the recurve on warthogs! Get your GRUBS on, Ty Weaver “Every kid is waiting to be invited outdoors. Ask them!” 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 25
A Father&Son Safari Journal
By Rod and Josh Daigle The land is kind of like our Texas hill country. It’s dry,hilly and rocky in places but the rest of it is flat land. EVERYTHING that grows naturally in Africa has thorns, big mean thorns.
Sunday We arrive at Limcroma Safaris and it is fantastic! The lodge and cottages are four star hotel quality. Thatched roofs inside and out, native rock walls, tile floors, fine furnishings and everything is spotless. Owner Hannes Els and his staff are friendly and eager to please. We have four other hunters in our camp, actually three and a spouse, all from Texas; Jason and his dad are from Shiner and Wayne and Jennifer are from Houston. Our PH (Professional Hunter) is named Kobus. He is a barrel chested guy with a blonde beard who is very serious about his hunting. His 19 year old son Andrew is helping out. Our two trackers are Sol and Andres. They all communicate in Africanse, the native Language. Kobus and Andrew do speak English as well. With Kobus driving the rest of us climb into our Nissan 4 wheel drive truck outfitted with seats and shooting racks in the bed of the truck. Setting up top we begin looking for animals. Very soon we start seeing a lot of different game. The first animal we see that is on our wish list is a zebra, actually several zebras, but there is one particularly big stallion and that’s the one we want. Shots have to be made quickly because none of the game stands still very long. Zebra stallions are smart. They keep the rest of the herd between them and the danger. After getting into position Josh makes a good shot with his Remington .350 magnum 225 grain bullet. However, these animals are full of adrenaline at this point and will run for a good distance. We started tracking and Josh was soon able to find the zebra in the thick grasses and thorny bushes and put a finishing shot into the zebra. We all congratulated each other. The trackers have a multi-step handshake. We didn’t get it right the first time but quickly got the hang of it. After pictures we were headed back to camp when we saw a good blesbok. Josh’s shot was a little low and we tracked it until dark but didn’t get another chance to finish it off. We decided to look for it the next morning. Back at camp’ around the fire pit while eating some hors d’oeuvres, we told the story of the zebra hunt. Over dinner, which was amazing, we shared more hunting stories. The food needs to be recognized. We eat the previous day’s kill as our main meal.
26 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
Monday -
Monday morning we set out to find the blesbok. We added a third tracker, Joe. These guys can track through high grass and across rock seeing spots of blood that Josh and I couldn’t see even after they pointed them out. They also track the hoof prints of the animal when there is no blood trail. We saw the wounded blesbok 3 times but never got the shot. After a full morning of tracking with no success we decided to hunt other animals, hoping to come across the blesbok as we went. We saw blue wildebeest and gemsbok that were of trophy size but they spooked too quickly to get a shot. After what will become a daily ritual of a 2 hour nap we went out again until dark. The animals again didn’t give us the sure shot we needed. No animal on Monday but a good day of hunting. Campfire talk again with a great meal, a hot shower and in bed by 10 pm.
Tuesday -
Today we went to a new area to hunt. We were looking for kudu and eland, two of the biggest antelope species. With Andres driving, Kobus, Sol, Josh and I were scanning the thickets and savannah for these big creatures. Weighing 700 pounds and 1800 pounds respectively, you’d think they’d be easy to spot, but their coloring lets them blend into the landscape. Even though we spotted both a large kudu and eland they were not making it easy. When they would stop it was only for a few seconds or they would be behind a tree or in cover too thick to shoot into. Kobus decided at one point to have Sol get behind the animals and drive them toward an area where we hoped to intercept them. The plan worked too well. Both the kudu and eland came crashing out of the brush at almost the same time and on both sides of us. We couldn’t react fast enough and just watched them both run back into the thick stuff. It was actually kind of funny. We all just looked at each like “what just happened.” We got back in the hunting vehicle and continued. Not thirty minutes later Kobus’ guess as to where the kudu went was right and he popped out of the woods very near us, maybe 50 yards. Josh was able to make a good shot and drop the kudu in its tracks. It was a magnificent animal measuring over 50 inches in horn length. The animals use their horns so much that they form white tips, called “ivory tips” at the end of their horns. Kobus guessed that it was 10-12 years old and had been forced out of the herd by the younger kudu bulls. Circle of life and all that. Josh was very proud. We took lots of pictures. We then went looking for the eland. We chased it around and through the bush hoping to guess where it would come out of the thicket. Kobus was right again as Josh made a moving 125 yard shot on the eland as it made its way across a small opening. Elands are big in the field when you’re hunting them but it shocks you when you’re kneeling down next to it taking a picture. Eighteen hundred pounds is a lot of animal! Josh was barely visible behind the eland during picture taking. And when the eland was hanging at the skinning rack it stretched out to over fifteen feet. The 30 inch horns were long and heavy with thick spiral ridges going around them. This eland was one of the biggest taken this week. That afternoon we went looking for wildebeest and gemsbok, seeing several, but never getting a shot. So at almost dark we went to an area we had seen nyala the previous two days. An excellent one presented a shot but Josh’s adrenaline must have really been pumping because he shot over its back. We went back to camp for the night knowing we were coming back for that nyala.
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Wednesday -
Today was a long day of seeing impala, wildebeest, gemsbok and warthogs (all things on our list to take) but never getting the good shot. Knowing we really wanted the nyala, Kobus suggested we sit along a path he thought the nyala travelled often and wait to see if it followed its routine. From 3:30 to 5:45 pm nothing happened. The waiting was a little boring and we almost talked ourselves out of this plan, when we saw other animals start coming down the path, a bushbok and some kudu cows. We decided to stay. At almost dark the nyala appeared. It stopped next to a dead bush offering only a small opening to shoot through. At 120 yards Josh made an amazing neck shot through that small opening and the nyala was dead before it hit the ground. It vaulted itself backward and fell along the edge of a pond. This will make a beautiful mount.
Thursday -
Today’s hunt was spent looking for gemsbok, wildebeest and impala. We saw them but again getting a clear shot was tough. While riding around we spotted a warthog. Josh made a great heart shot. Mission accomplished. Check that one off the list. After another incredible lunch and nap we headed out about 3pm to hunt. At this point Josh reminded me of a funny story from Tuesday. Sol, our tracker, was opening a gate and got shocked across the backside by the electric fence they use to keep our predators. I’m told it was all volts and not amps so it causes muscle contractions, sort of like a police taser gun. Everyone laughed, except Sol, after we knew he was okay. Back to the hunt... We kept seeing more Impala than anything else so we decide to go after them. Kobus spots a good impala buck and the stalk was on. Moving thru the bush for about ten minutes Kobus pulls up the shooting sticks and Josh hits it right behind the shoulder. The impala actually ran over 100 yards before falling over. We had another stalk just to find it. Andres whistled and we went to where he was standing over a beautiful, mature impala buck. Handshakes, high fives and pictures, then off to camp for hors d’oeuvres around the fire, a great meal and early to bed to get up an hour earlier at 5:30am to get in a position for the gemsbok and wildebeest as they came out for their morning graze.
Friday -
We set out an hour earlier today hoping to find the animals coming out of the bush. It worked! We had just pulled around to a big clearing when there stood a wildebeest Kobus had been trying to get all season. He saw us and made his run back toward the bush but for some reason stopped to look back at us. It was quartering away from us and Kobus told Josh to aim for the shoulder. With the angle and his excitement Josh’s shot was a little high. But he got a second shot and hit it in the ribs, a little back of the best kill shot of the shoulder. The wildebeest made a run into the brush and Josh couldn’t get it in his scope in time. This started a morning of tracking. There wasn’t any blood to follow but the trackers scared the wildebeest from hiding spots three different times. For some reason one of the two trackers didn’t stay with the wildebeest while the other found us to finish it off. When we got there it was gone and the trackers and Kobus spent most of the day looking for it, with no success. We were bummed as you would expect. We decided to hunt for a gemsbok and hope to come across the wildebeest while we hunted. The afternoon was spent looking for gemsbok. We spotted some in the brush but could not get a clear shot. While hunting for the gemsbok we came across a warthog with very long tusks. It was over 200 yards out and Josh’s heavy bullet fell just short. Finally about 5:00 we spotted some gemsbok in the deep thicket and Kobus and Josh put a hard, long stalk on them. Josh had a small opening in the thick stuff at a very long horned gemsbok and made a great shot. Kobus saw the hit and was convinced it was hit hard and we all walked up to where it should be. This 400 pound animal was nowhere to be found. Josh and I looked at each as if to say “Not Again!” We had a blood trial to follow but darkness fell and we had to give up tracking it. Josh and I were very disappointed. But I reminded him that the July rains had caused the grasses to grow thick and as high as 4-5 feet! I also reminded him of all the great hunts and animals we had already experienced and not to let this day overshadow that. After a great dinner Kobus said we would pick up the trail tomorrow. Andres promised we would find it. 28 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
Saturday -
We l eft camp at 7 am and began the search for the gemsbok... We brought Jon along with Sol and Andres to track. Jon was able to run a game trail when others had to walk. They began by walking the entire perimeter road surrounding the last place where blood had been found. After about an hour they found two drops of blood in the road. We decided to drive around to the other side of the area in case they pushed into the open. As we started to get into the truck the trackers let out a shout. The gemsbok lay dead not 10 steps from the road. We were all excited, shaking hands and high-fiving. I think we were all bummed out by Friday’s bad luck and finding the gemsbok was a big relief to everyone and put the safari back on its happy track again. The horns measure 41 inches and luckily the gemsbok had not been found by any predators or scavengers and the hide was not damaged. We took lots of smiling pictures and headed back to camp. Limcroma has a policy of offering second animals for half price so we harvested a fantastic heavy horned blesbok right before lunch. Josh’s confidence was back and his shot placement was perfect! After our afternoon nap (something I’m sure we’re both going to miss), we got a chance for Josh to bow hunt. Their bow blinds are built with about half of it below ground level. This gives you the chance to make a level shot instead of a high shot from an elevated blind. We had started out in an elevated blind next to the Crocodile River but some locals decided that’s where they would set up fish nets. Their talking kept any animals away so we moved to a ground blind. Waterbuck were the first animals to come in, mostly young bucks. We were looking for a better warthog than we already had. Guinea Fowl were the next to come into the water and feed. Josh shot at one but their feathers are so thick the arrow didn’t penetrate enough to kill it. Very annoying birds. They would spook for no reason and this would scare everything else away as well. Everything seems to happen around 5 o’clock in Africa. That’s when a group of warthogs came in. One had good tusk length and Josh made a double-lung shot on it. It left a great blood trail and we found it about 150 yards from the blind. A great finish to a great day and a great safari.
Sunday -
This being our last day we were able to sleep until almost 9 am. I got up and packed everything while Josh reviewed the pictures we had taken for the hundredth time. After brunch and good bye to Hannes and the rest of the staff, we headed to Johannesburg about 12:15. The first part was on unpaved roads. Along that part we saw several donkey-drawn carts filled with native Africans visiting friends or coming back from church. When we hit the paved road we drove through a couple of different mountainous areas. We passed iron ore mining operations where they were systematically mining whole mountains level. We passed many shanty towns. Most had primitive soccer fields filled with native Africans enjoying their favorite past time. Kobus and his son Andrew were taking us back to the airport. Their hometown of Pretoria was on the way so we were going to drop Kobus off to spend time with his wife and two young sons he hadn’t seen in over a month. That is the life of a Professional Hunter. We stopped at an open market to look for a souvenir elephant for Josh’s Granny. Kobus said most people spent hours there. We spent five minutes. He was both shocked and happy. Our next stop was Kobus’s house in Pretoria where we met his wife and two younger sons. We said goodbye to him and continued on to the airport with Andrew. With five hours to kill we ate and shopped for t-shirts for Josh’s sister, Kelsey. We finally took off at 9 pm for the 10 hour flight to Paris. For the first time Josh slept almost the entire time. Me not a wink. A layover in Paris of an hour let us get a snack and another T-Shirt for Kelsey. This 9 hour flight was not very full so we changed to a two seat row and I was even able to lay across an empty middle row for a short nap. Same Air France food as the flight over. Long on cheese and wine but short on flavor. We were ready to get home so the last few hours seemed to go in slow motion. We landed in Houston with all our luggage. Met and talked to a guy in the customs line who had just been on an elephant hunt in Tanzania. We shared stories and pictures too. Still on Paris time so kind of spacey going to baggage claim but happy as we got to the suburban... until we opened the doors and were hit with the rancid smell of chocolate milk that had been left to sour and permeate the inside of that vehicle for TWELVE DAYS. It was a long drive home with our windows down, but nothing could take away the joy Josh and I experienced in Africa. 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 29
s y u G
Hunter/Chef Barry Stewart
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30 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
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31 Shot 31 Shot of Texas of Texas Magazine™ Magazine™August-september August-september 20132013
32 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
The Common Production Failure Analysis of ERW Steel Pipe Unit
P
eriodical Lap welding refers to the intermittent appearance of lap welding. It happens when the lap weld length is slightly longer (a few centimeters or even dozens of cm) or sometimes slightly shorter, one or two cm. Sometimes lap welding occurs for relative regular equidistance, sometimes appears irregularly. For all these kinds lap welding phenomena, we collectively known as periodical lap welding. Periodic lap welding generally occurs in the later stages of production and mainly has the following reasons: (1) guide ring rupture. After sealing groove wear, it will not be able to effectively control the pipe run normally, making the tube billet swing in the groove. Once the guide ring breaks and appears gouges, the edge of the tube billet, in the process of running, will sag down by the guide ring gouges, finally forming the lap welding. The feature of such lap welding pipe is with same lap welding cycle length, strong regularity, and easy to judgment. Generally following the broken guide ring spinning, the trace of the sag can be found.
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(2) The groove wear. It mainly refers to the closed groove roller diameter position appears steps, as well as the open pass vertical roll pass department. When the tube billet swing in the pass and sliding towards the pass step parts, it will cause the tube billet deformation. The sag trace generated by the edge and finally form a lap welding. The best way to eliminate the lap welding tube, is to pay
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attention to the reasonable adjustment in normal production, make the groove wear uniform, avoid step, once find groove surface appears irregular shape, is about to change in time, to completely eliminate the generation of lap welding. (3) Foreign body in the groove surface. Other metal foreign bodies once attached to the groove surface for some reason, it may cause the tube billet surface generate sag sexual scar, and when the foreign body touching position is in the tube billet edge running track, it can cause short periodicity of equidistance lap welding. In general, this phenomenon is rare. (4) The side seam. In the late production, pass wear is more serious and control of the tube billet ability gradually decreased, and the center position of the groove is damaged by different degree. So, from the molding to welding, pipe will appear unstable due to the phenomenon of side seam. And lap welding caused by side seam is mainly caused by the occurrence of vertical roll. When checking the conditions of the edge of the tube billet, it is hard to find anything abnormal or apparent defects under pressure- squeezing roll, one can feel a slight difference of the height of the two edges of the pipe. By then, we should be paying attention to the top shape of the vertical roll pass. If it’s ok, it can increase the shrinkage of vertical roll, in order to obtain perfect tube billet deformation of edge effect, and if the vertical roll shape of top of the groove is not very good, should reduce shrinkage of vertical roll, in case the cause of bad shape. (5) Bearing damage. Once the sealing groove bearing is damaged, it can’t well control the tube billet running smoothly, the phenomenon of side seam is likely to happen, and the possibility of lap welding followed. Especially after multichannel closed groove bearing damage, lap welding problem will become more serious, and though this phenomenon is rare, if this kind of irregular lap weld was twitched, adjustment alone will not be able to solve the problem. 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 33
A
little more than an hour of daylight remained and the hunting clock was running out. For the past three days, we had worked our way along an endless series of dirt tracks that cut through a vast tangle of mesquite in search of nilgai antelope bulls. While there were plenty of nilgai, getting close to what had proven to be an extremely wary animal was difficult to say the least. My dad has given, Mom (Harriet), my husband (Jerry) and my self some amazing hunting trips for Christmas over the last few years. We have been to Alaska for black bear (I shot the largest), Colorado for elk (I took the biggest) and most recently South Africa. Harriet was going specifically for a Black Sable, Jerry was going specifically for a lion and I wanted to shoot anything
34 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
QUEEN of Beasts! that walked. Ultimately I decided my main focus would be a lioness and something with my bow. We flew out of Corpus Christi in May, spent the first day of travel in New York City and got up bright and early for our flight to Johannesburg. Once we arrived in South Africa, got through customs and located my bow (we chose to rent firearms from our outfitter) we
headed out of the airport. I was praying our professional hunter was there, this was our first trip out of the country specifically to hunt, and I was worried. However, there was nothing to be nervous about, when I rounded the corner Jaco Strauss with Kwalata Wilderness was standing there waving and smiling. I could feel the worry and concern lift off my shoulders. The plan was
to send our luggage by car to the lion camp and we would take a charter flight with Jaco and Reinhard Heuser (owner of Kwalata Wilderness). Eventually we got to the camp after a minor technical difficulty, a sick Mom and landing on a dirt runway. Oh the experiences we have. Our first night at the Lion camp we sighted in rifles, Jerry and I used a 375 H and H and Harriet was using their 270, and shared our first meal together. The next morning the adventures began with signing a waiver of liability. I was expecting that, hunters sign waivers at our ranch (Lonesome Coyote Ranch), too. I was not expecting that the last line would read, “You acknowledge that you will be in the Death Zone of an animal�. Jerry just signs it and says lets go hunting. I read the whole thing, sign and then rethink this plan. I actually pulled Jerry into our room and told him, I was not going to die hunting some animal.
He along with three Professional Hunters convinced me to get in the vehicle and we will have a grand time. They all got “the look”, the one that says stop the BS or I will chew you up one side and down the other. You all know “the look”; yep they all recognized it, too. Despite that, we loaded up in their Toyota Tundra and headed out for the first hunt. I did make them all
promise that if the lioness charged they would help me put her down because I was not very comfortable shooting a moving target. It is always so interesting to learn how other places hunt. For this excursion, they tied a huge tractor tire to the back of the Tundra and drag the road; it is like snake hunting on a large scale. In the morning no fresh tracks were found but after lunch they found a huge fresh track, decided it was a male so Jerry was up. Jerry got out with three professional hunters (PH), three trackers and a videographer. Off they went into the brush tracking this lion. Mom and I stayed in the vehicle with our PH and we continued to drag the roads keeping pressure on the cat as Jerry’s entourage tracked him. The goal of a successful lion hunt is to get the Lion to turn and fight or climb into a tree. Several times over the course of the afternoon we would cross paths with the group, give them water and encouraging words. The last time we
drove off fifty yards down we did a quick U-turn and headed back. Mom and I thought they must have lost the trail but Jerry is standing in the road waving his arms, Reinhard stops the truck and says it was a female and we where going to take her. I got out of the truck, Reinhard is taking my glasses and scarf, Jerry is handing me the rifle and now I am heading into the brush. There was no time to think about the “death zone” or the danger. I walk up to the area where the group is, three trackers, three PHs, a videographer and me. They ask if I see her, all I see is a huge yellow blob in the three. This provokes a lengthy discussion about where I should shoot her, where her shoulder is and that if I am not sure of the shot not to take it (I so wanted to say no joke do you not remember my opinion about this eight hours ago). Anyway, it was difficult to make sure because she is all yellow, there are tree branches
in the way and they keep suggesting following her tail up to her front shoulder. Problem is that is a lengthy distance between the base of her tail and her front shoulder. Someone in the group finally whistled and she put her front paw up and over another tree branch. This got us all on the same page about her front shoulder, I was correct the whole time, and the time has arrived. I got her shoulder in my sights, took the gun off safety, Reinhard put his hand on my back and told me I had this and I squeezed the trigger. She fell out of the tree with a huge thud and everyone (seven grown men) are all yelling to shoot her again, shoot her again. So I reloaded and squeezed a second time. That shot hit the bloody tree and the lioness was gone. The PH’s all said it was a good shot because of how she hit the ground and when she ran away her tail was up. Congratulations all around and adrenaline pumping, what a rush. Then they spring on
2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 35
me that we would wait ten minutes and go find her. I was thinking ten minutes, holy crap; we wait thirty minutes with a whitetail. Ten minutes go by and off we go. They want me to have a bullet in the chamber and the gun off safety so that I am ready if she charges. Well, they start getting ahead of me, because I am lolly gagging around, when one of the PH’s comes back grabs me by the shirt
her and I had no time to think about the situation. Jerry was up next for his lion. That took five days of tracking before he was ready to turn and fight and it took Jerry four shots to put the 800 lb. male on the ground. Yes, I rub it in that I put my cat down with one shot and it took him four to put his cat on the ground. The joys of teaching your wife the love of hunting! The afternoon of the
impala he had the rifle and shot before I could even begin to say it was my turn. Ultimately, Jerry also took a nice Kudu, a zebra, and a blesbuck. Mom got her black Sable, the largest ever taken on Kwalata Wilderness. She also took a zebra, an impala, a blesbuck, a tsessebe, a monkey, and a blue wildebeest. I am pretty sure that whatever Auntie Harriet wanted to shoot, Reinhard
a nice zebra. The second property is where Jerry got his zebra and we learned that a zebra’s stripes are like a humans fingerprint. Everyone is different. At this property, we also tried several times to take a blue wildebeest with my bow but could never get close enough. Ultimately, I thought it was to dark to see my pins, and I changed back to the rifle and put him down with one shot.
and says come on we are all here just be ready we are on each side of you. HUMPH! Maybe fifty yards from the tree they see here, I am trying to figure out how to shoot close range through the scope, I know idiot, then realize that I can shoot from the hip because we are that close. The PH Joc nudges her with his foot and she was dead. One shot and I put down a 500 lb. lioness that had been killing all of the cubs in the pride. It was a great start to an amazing hunt and worth being in the “death zone”, especially since Jerry tracked
fifth day we took a second charter plane to Kwalata Wildernesses primary camp. Yes, we took off and landed on dirt runways, the exciting things we do for a great hunt. It was now Mom’s turn to put an animal on the ground and the first evening she shot a nice warthog right between the eyes. We are a competitive family and the score was one each. Now Jerry said the only thing he wanted to take was a big lion, so I really thought he would be done. Not so much though. The minute he saw a big
made sure it was accomplished. Just what a great PH is supposed to do. Jerry and I hunted together with our amazing PH Jaco. Hunting is always a challenge. One day, we went up a mountain, down the other side, across the valley and back up another mountain. Now, we are from Texas so they may have been hills but it was lots of hiking and the darn animals evaded us. This triggered us going to a couple of different properties the Reinhard had contacts with. The first property we went to I shot
Another afternoon we came across a very nice waterbuck that I took in an unusual way. I learned on this trip that Waterbucks have a large white ring around their backsides. When the waterbuck was spotted all we could see was the ring. Jaco says with a straight face shoot him right in the middle of the target. I asked several times if he was sure, Jaco said yes and I took the shot. Jaco then says that is the Texas Heart shot, I am still pretty sure he was yanking my chain, but I ended up with a beautiful waterbuck.
36 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
ter we got settled into the blind the warthog we were after was coming out of the brush. He ate and left and came back and finally quartered away. I stood up got him in my peep and released my arrow. The low profile shuttle T Stuck him exactly where I wanted and he was off and running. We waited 20 minutes (twice as long as we did for the lion) and
The only thing left on my to do list for our first trip to South Africa was that I really wanted to take an animal with my bow and eventually during our 14 day hunt that became the focus. Several hunts we sat in different bow blinds but it was early in the season and just like any place you hunt some times are better than others for bow hunting. That being said, the staff at Kwalata and our PH Jaco went above and beyond to help me accomplish this goal. Our PH had spotted a large warthog coming consistently to a salt lick but there was no blind. So Rhe-
ino, another PH/videographer, and several Kwalata staff members went about constructing a blind for us to sit in. I am 5’11” and the PH that went to supervise the construction of the bow blind was all of 5’6”. They measured my draw length but no one thought about my height so when we got to the blind I could barely stand up straight, much less raise my Mathews Chill to the height I needed. This triggered some last minute adjustments and raising one corner allowed for my height. Now it was time to hunt. Not five minutes af-
began tracking him. We eventually found him about 100 yards from the blind. His tusks were bigger than my mom’s. My first kill with a bow
and something I will always remember. Our last full day of hunting took us back to my lucky bow blind. Where I saw a beautiful black sable. Everything coming into the blind was extremely skittish this day. Sables, warthogs, elands all would come in but nothing would stay but a few seconds. Eventually, the sable we were after came in but then dated away and stayed in the brush. Finally he quartered away and I sent my arrow right behind his shoulder. The sable ran but eventually he found him and he was gorgeous. When Mom heard that I had taken a sable she was happy but wanted to make sure it was not bigger than hers. It was not but just by an inch. Final count, Jerry 4, Amanda 6, Harriet 8., Mom may have won this trip but we will give her a run for her money next time. The animals were all trophy quality, the people were wonderful and the memories priceless. We definitely will hunt in South Africa again and with Kwalata Wilderness. Outfitter Kwalta Safaris visit www.kwalta.com. Amanda Gray
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w w w . m b h u n t i n g r a nOwner c Ranch h e s .Financing c o m Sales
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2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 37
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UNMATCHED TEXAS HUNTING RETREAT
"Just wanted to say thanks for showing my family an awesome time. The hospitality and service received at the Lonesome Coyote Ranch is second to none. This was our fifth trip to the ranch and it just gets better everytime, you guys are the best! Oh and the kids said the food was perfect every meal." Mann Daigle —
"Just wanted to say thanks for showing my family an awesome time. The hospitality and service received at the Lonesome Coyote Ranch is second to none. This was our fifth trip to the ranch and it just gets better everytime, you guys are the best! Oh and the kids said the food was perfect every meal." Mann Daigle —
"We Do Things Right!" www.lonesomecoyoteranch.com
"We Do Things Right!"
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The Lonesome Coyote Ranch is open year round. We are located in the famous South Texas Golden triangle that is famous for variety of exceptional hunting opportunities. Our corporate tailored facilities can host your next sales meeting this or guide you to your next exceptional trophy. We offer: White Tail Deer Rio Grande Turkey Upland Game Birds Hogs and Predators
Keystone XL: Here Comes the Cavalry, But a Little Late?
J
ust when Canada had given up on the United States ever approving the Keystone XL pipeline – and had arranged approval for Energy East, an alternative plan to pipe tar sands crude east through Quebec to waiting tankers – U.S. Republicans retook the Senate. Now with enough political might to push Keystone through, over expected Democrat resistance, the GOP resurgence might look like the cavalry coming to the rescue – if only they weren’t so late. Republican cavalry to the rescue? Before the mid-term election tsunami of 2014 hit, Keystone already had 57 Senate votes--including a dozen Democrats. Republican wins now put the number over 60, making a bill approving pipeline construction filibuster-proof. The arriving Republican cavalry includes Mike Rounds of South Dakota, Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia, Cory Gardner in Colorado, and Joni Ernst from Iowa--all big-time Keystone backers. And the election will put Republican supporters in charge of the key committees: Lisa Murkowski of Alaska becomes chairman of Energy and Natural Resources. Bob Corker of Tennessee takes over Foreign Relations (which oversees State Department). James Inhofe of Oklahoma will helm Environment and Public Works. Inhofe has called warnings of climate change “the biggest hoax perpetrated on the American people.” And he would replace Barbara Boxer of California – one of the biggest opponents of Keystone. Can the Republicans save the day? A Republican-led Senate will send a bill to authorize the Keystone XL pipeline to President Barack Obama first thing, essentially daring him to veto it. Senator John Hoeven, North Dakota Republican and big pipeline advocate, acts as spearhead. Democrats may have lost their “firewall in the Senate”, as Daniel J. Weiss of the League of Conservation Voters terms it, but political jockeying may still be required to put this project through D.C.
“This president is not going to approve Keystone. It’s a religious item among environmentalists. He’s just not going to approve it, and that’s that.”
Michael McKenna, Republican strategist
Republicans need 67 votes to override a presidential veto. They might just get it if they can woo a couple more from the Democrat camp, like Senators Tom Carper and Chris Coons, both from Delaware, or maybe Bill Nelson of Florida. They may still have to tie pipeline approval to spending--or perhaps a broader energy package – to get it done.
If the U.S. approves Keystone, will the Canadians build it? Calgary-based TransCanada claims delays in getting U.S. approval have hiked project costs by almost half--to $8 billion. So what if Republicans now control Congress and 65 percent of Americans support constructing Keystone XL. Environmentalists could still kill the deal. The Energy East project, like a super Keystone, doubles pipeline length and adds a third more capacity. It costs a bit more at $10.7 billion, but it could be moving crude by 2018 – and nowhere does it cross into U.S. territory. Supertanker access at the end of its wending eastward 2,900-mile path could serve not only the same Gulf refineries Keystone was meant to connect, but also a Putin-starved, energy-hungry Europe – all while escaping steep U.S. price discounts. Sending crude by tanker may cost $2-3 more a barrel than going through a pipeline, but to Canadians despairing of the cavalry ever arriving that may look like a small price to pay for certainty. SOURCES: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-08/keystone-be-darnedcanada-finds-oil-route-around-obama.html http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-05/keystone-approvalsought-by-republicans-daring-obama-veto.html http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/how-a-republican-senatecould-force-obama-s-hand-on-keystone-20141105 http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/223018-gop-hasthe-votes-to-pass-keystone http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/06/obama-empoweredgop-set-for-face-to-face-on-heels-midterm-sea-change/ http://247wallst.com/energy-business/2014/11/05/how-the-election-will-impact-keystone-pipeline-oil-exports
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2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 39
THE AFRICA
That Most Don’t See
One Magnificent Wonder of the World Where the power of this water was once known as “Mosi-oa-Tunya” meaning “The Smoke that Thunders” This impact of its powerful water flow will always be an incredible phenomenon to the supremacy that Mother Nature always Reins. 40 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
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ix magnificent gorges intertwine the borders of Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingston, Zambia. David Livingstone a Scottish missionary and explorer was believed to be the first European to view Victoria Falls in 1855, consequently naming an island in the middle of the falls gorges as Livingstone Island. Indescribably the magnitude of these falls is spectacular, with a total height in the center at 360 ft. tall (the length of a football field) and is fed by the Zambezi River, recognized as the largest sheet of falling water in the world. For those who love to fish the river is known for 39 species below the falls and 89 varieties above the falls. The two countries permit tourists to make day trips between countries and visas may be purchased at the borders. One famous feature naturally formed called the “Devils Pool” is near the edge of the falls on the Zambian side. When the river flow is at a certain level a rock barrier forms and adventurous swimmers splash around near the edge of the falls with relative safety. A view of the falls from a helicopter ride one morning was amazing to amass not only the size but observe the power of falling water between each of its gorges. In the early 1900’s a decision to build a rail bridge connecting Zimbabwe to Zambia offered access for tourists and traders from as far south as the Cape to as far North as the Belgian Congo. In today’s version of the rail bridge it continues to offer scenic rail rides but also offers “thrill seekers” bungee jumping off the bridge into the gorge below…heart rendering just to watch that expose! We flew from Johannesburg, South Arica to Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe where our guide Zwe met us upon arrival and transferred us to the historic and quaint: 2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 41
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VICTORIA FALLS HOTEL With over 100 years of operation this hotel was subsequently given the nickname “The Grand Old Lady of Africa.” Surrounded by stories from Kings, Queens and Presidents this hotel graciously offered many other distinguished guests the comfort and style with graciousness befitting the grand old dame of hotels. As the saying goes “if these walls could talk” thousands of visitors would acknowledge their historic eulogies. Upon our arrival at the Victoria Falls Hotel we dined on the terrace overlooking the beautiful gardens and listened to falls with the sound of the massive water flow, clearly heard from the gorges below. The sight of mist and smoke rose high into the air confirming the power of the water tumbling below. One of my favorite afternoons was sitting on the veranda for high tea listening to the classical piano-man play his melodies. His music eras, along with the sounds of the thunderous water in the background, are moments in time that remain captured within our souls. A milestone tribute to this wonderful classic establishment…this Grand Old Lady of Africa looks back with pride and forward with confidence. Try and count the 7 wonders of the world? Over many decades you will find several different opinions on “the wonders”, as our universe will infinitely be marked by its wondrous reality! Bon Voyage & Santé Barbara
2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 43
Thandeka Safaris is a beautiful hunting destination situated in the Kalahari, 4km from the Botswana border,
Thirty two species Plains Game Dangerous Game Wing Shooting Bow Hunters welcome
“Experience prime unspoiled savannah”. Ideally suited for first time or returning hunters or families wanting to relax and enjoy all that Africa has to offer. Contact info@thandekasafaris.co.za or rob@ashotoftexas.net for details and packages We are proud to be hosting A Shot of Texas Magazine’s Big Shot Outfitters SAFARI 2015, Contact Rob@ashotoftexas.net for details.
www.crittergitters.net Tel: 281-332-7912 44 Shot of Texas Magazine 2015
IT’S ALL IN THE FAMILY at Meyer Custom Boots
Meyer Ranch not only makes some of the finest custom boots in Texas, they offer one of Life’s Greatest Adventures: to catch and kill the animal you proudly wear. Call today for a chance to book your next great hunting trip. Who could pass up this sort of once in a lifetime experience? Packages and all your overnight accomodations make the plans a cinch. Also, the Meyer’s keep the business in the family and that shows in all the work they do; from the leather work to the personal guide work they provide on these hunts. p
2ND ANNUAL SAFARI ISSUE 45
My First Morning on Safari
I
purchased a hat today. Not a regular hat mind you this one had a leather strap that cinches up to your chin.
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Nope it’s not a cowboy hat. Lots of folks before me have purchased a hat like this and I wonder if it meant as much to them as this does to me. The hat hasn’t been my only acquisition; over the last few months the list includes bullets, clothing and some books.
The subject of all the books was the same and the writer of them all was Capstick. Not only did I buy a safari hat, I also purchased some pretty cool duds and, in fact, I look a lot like Teddy Roosevelt when I got it all together. I was going to Africa for the
first time and by God I was going to look like the part. My suitcase has been laying open on the floor of our house for about three months prior to my trip. I washed and dried the clothes a few times so that it look brand-new when I got there. They had been folded late neatly into place along with some other essentials like my Leica 8 x 40 binoculars. I packed my favorite hunting knife appropriately called “White Hunter” made by Puma that belong to my dad. I also took along my dad’s old model 70 in a 338 Winchester Magnum. I’m not much for recoil so I had a magna port put on the end and a trigger job, adjusting the pull to about 2 1/2 pounds. Still don’t recommend shooting a big rifle like that on the bench so I did on my target practice shooting off sticks at about 100 to 200 yards. My dad never got a chance to go to Africa and I feel especially privileged to have his rifle with me. I landed in Africa when it was dark and by the time I got
back to the lodge it was midnight. I was too excited to sleep very well and morning just couldn’t come soon enough for me. I was up all excited and in my Teddy Roosevelt getup for hours before dawn when, finally, something real happened to my left in the still dark with about 30 minutes to go before daylight. My Guide’s name was Erik. We scarcely had time to get to talk the night before but here we were sitting on the High rack of a Toyota Land Cruiser. As the sun peeked over the horizon I started seeing shapes and movement through my binoculars. As the sun rose higher we were looking over to a big open field sprinkled by brush. There were wildebeest, zebra, wart hogs,baboons and other animals I couldn’t even recognize. Yes, I was really in Africa, not on my couch in front of the TV screen. That morning Erik has picked out a zebra stallion for me and the stalk was on. The problem was that stalking any animal is difficult and one that has a bunch of friends and
relatives watching for the slightest movement is even more difficult. We had not been spotted yet and the whole time Erik was trying to explain how to tell the difference between the mares and the stallions. He tapped on my shoulder with an urgency and pointed back over my left shoulder. I was expecting to see was that stallion but instead it was a rather large Rhino headed in our direction. I actually reached for my pocket camera as he began to drag my not overly speedy self back to the land cruiser. I hurried and clambored onto the vehicle with my guide. That Rhino never stopped coming as seemed to gain speed and fierceness as we started the whine and sped away. “What was that all about?” I asked. “What if he caught up to us?” Erik grinned, “He would have flipped this truck like a rag doll.” Sometimes ignorance is bliss... especially when your in a place that has a whole bunch of majestic and deadly wild critters. By Robert Kahn
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