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ii HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
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FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 3
TABLE of
CONTENTS
FALL 2021
FEATURES
24 SHIFTING DEMOGRAPHICS: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCING OUR TIMEHONORED TRADITIONS
By Ellary TuckerWilliams
26 ODDS AND ENDS: TURN ANY GAME MEAT INTO DELICIOUS SAUSAGE
By Scott Leysath
32 GUNWERKS: 15 YEARS OF INNOVATION
38 WOMEN WHO HUNT
Contributed by Global Rescue
42 CHASING THE GRAY
32
GHOST IN BOTSWANA
By Tim Herald
48 SOUTH AFRICAN SPIRAL HORN SLAM
24
70
By Gayne C. Young
54 ON SAFARI WITH ESPLANADE TRAVEL: SOUTHERN AFRICA
By Jacky Keith
62 MY DAD’S RIFLE
FEEDS A VILLAGE
By M. Arnold
70 THE KING BEAR
By John Wootters
76 HSCF PH SPOTLIGHT
Meet Michael Webb of World Class Fishing & Hunting
78 BOARD MEMBER SPOTLIGHT 5 Minutes With HSCF Board Member Monica Williamson
82
82 SEA FLATS SAFARI:
SEEKING THE FLATS SLAM IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
By Chester Moore, Jr.
90 SAFARI HUNTING,
CONSERVATION & SUSTAINABILITY
By Robin Hurt
4 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
98 GIFT IDEAS FOR 2021 100 PICKING THE RIGHT HUNT By James Dodkin
108 LOOKING BACK
By Tommy Morrison
48
54 26
62 100
42
90 FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 5
About Houston Safari Club Foundation: Houston Safari Club Foundation (HSCF) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve the sport of hunting through education, conservation, and the promotion of our hunting heritage. HSCF has awarded 625 scholarships totaling $2.8 million. HSCF conducts youth outdoor education programs, career training, hunter education and field experiences for hundreds of students each year. HSCF has provided over $4 million in grants for hunter-funded wildlife, habitat, and various conservation initiatives. HSCF is an independent organization, is not affiliated with Safari Club International (SCI) or its affiliates and is not a chapter or affiliate of any other organization. Visit our website at wehuntwegive.org or call 713.623.8844 for more information.
HSCF. We Hunt. We Give. 6 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
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2020-2021 HOUSTON SAFARI CLUB FOUNDATION OFFICERS Jeff Birmingham, President Shaun Nelson, President-Elect Matt Pyle, Immediate Past President Will Perry, Vice President Kevin Comiskey, Vice President JD Burrows, Treasurer Jamison Smith, Secretary HOUSTON SAFARI CLUB FOUNDATION DIRECTORS 2020-2022 Ross Melinchuk Trey White Jody Simpson James Lofton 2021-2023 Jeff Garrett Monica Williamson Bryan Ray Kevin Ormston Chris Ruhman
2020 Gold MarCom Award for Nonprofit Print Magazine
2020 Folio Ozzie Honorable Mention for Association Magazine Design
2020 & 2019 American Graphic Design Award for Publication Design
HISTORIAN Jerry Henderson HEADQUARTERS STAFF Joe Betar, Executive Director Angi McCarthy, Director of Administrative Services Carla Nielsen, Marketing & Publications Manager Nancy Oka, Director, Events & Membership
2021, 2020 & 2018 Communicator Award for Print Distinction
Nate Silva, Design Consultant Alliance Printing and Graphics Hunter’s Horn™ is published quarterly by Houston Safari Club Foundation 14811 St. Mary’s Lane, Suite 265 Houston, Texas 77079 713.623.8844 (p) 713.623.8866 (f) info@wehuntwegive.org wehuntwegive.org © Copyright 2021 Houston Safari Club Foundation Houston Safari Club Foundation welcomes contributing articles, photos and research. Houston Safari Club Foundation reserves the right to edit submissions for spelling, grammar, clarity, organization and punctuation and to abridge length. Houston Safari Club Foundation reserves the right not to publish submissions. Content may not be repurposed without the express written consent of the author and publisher. Please submit materials with a self-addressed, stamped envelope if you wish materials to be returned. Houston Safari Club Foundation is not responsible for lost or unsolicited submissions. Digital submissions are preferred. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to Houston Safari Club Foundation, its members, employees or affiliates. Houston Safari Club Foundation reserves the right to refuse any advertisement believed to be incompatible with our mission or deemed competitive or contrary to the best interests of Houston Safari Club Foundation.
U PCOMING EV EN TS OCTOBER 23, 2021
Clay Crushing for Youth at Greater Houston Sports Club
NOVEMBER 2, 2021
Sporting Chef, Scott Leysath at Conroe Taxidermy Trophy Room
NOVEMBER 6, 2021
Gazelles and Doves Shooting and Shopping Event at the Simpson Ranch
DECEMBER 9, 2021
Annual Christmas Party at House of Blues
FEBRUARY 4-6, 2022
Annual Convention at the George R. Brown and Hilton Americas Houston
FEBRUARY 26, 2022
Tower Pheasant Shoot in Hockley, TX with WGO
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 7
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE JEFF BIRMINGHAM, HSCF PRESIDENT
O
n behalf of our Board of Directors, Vice Presidents, and staff of the Houston Safari Club Foundation (HSCF), I want to welcome all of you to the 2021-2022 fiscal year. I would also like to welcome new board members, Director Jeff Garrett, and Director Chris Ruhman along with returning board members Jeff Birmingham, JD Burrows, Jamison Smith, James Lofton, Ross Melinchuk, Kevin Ormston, Bryan Ray, Jody Simpson, Trey White, and Monica Williamson. I personally want to thank Matt Pyle for the job he did in steering us through such a trying year in 2020. Our organization and the entire world came up against obstacles that we could not have imagined in our wildest dreams. Matt, Joe Betar, and the staff at HSCF approached the obstacles as they came and calculated a path around, or sometimes over, them and never looked back. During 2020-2021, the staff at HSCF put together many “in-person” events which were very well attended. The good news is the desire to get out, have a drink, and tell a story was still there! The best news I have for you is that Africa is open and ready for us to return. I just got back from Africa with a longtime friend and HSC board member, Gib Surles. Before finalizing our travel plans, Gib and I discussed some of the worries travel now presents. We discussed and deciphered the ever-changing protocols imposed by the airlines, our government, and South Africa. The excitement of returning to the red dirt of Africa far outweighed our travel worries, so we teamed up with 18 fellow Aggie hunters for the long trip over. When we arrived in Africa, you would not believe the number of people that were standing in line at the airport to get their guns and bows—it was a wonderful sight. As it turned out, the Covid protocols were an easy hurdle, and those involved in the hunting community of Africa were very happy to see us. Their livelihoods had been put on hold for way too long. They need us and my soul needed to be back in Africa. It’s a great relationship. I would like to say, if you are holding off traveling or hunting abroad because of similar worries, go, it was great! I am equally excited to serve our members as President of HSCF. I believe in preserving the sport of hunting through education, conservation, and preserving our hunting heritage. John Madson wrote, “Through almost all of human existence, huntable land and huntable wildlife have preceded the hunter. But in the future, this must be reversed. It is the
8 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
hunter who must cause huntable land and wildlife, and a world worth being young in.” (Out Home, 1979) My hope is for the Houston Safari Club Foundation to grow as an organization, to extend our reach throughout society, and foster awareness of all the good being accomplished through the organization, and its members. I look forward to personally meeting as many of the members as possible over the next year. Please be sure to try and make it out to the ‘Clay Crushing For Youth’ Sporting Clays Tournament on October 23rd and our HSCF 2022 Annual Hunting Expo & Convention. Here is to a great 2022!
Jeff Birmingham HSCF President
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EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR‘S
MESSAGE
JOE BETAR, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
T
he American author Hal Borland once wrote, “Of all the seasons, autumn offers the most to man and requires the least of him.” I could not agree more. Depending on where you live, you may have spent your summer defending your sidewalks and flowerbeds against weeds or trying to provide enough water to keep your flowers, vegetables or yards alive. Fall is the time when we allow nature to take over and begin the annual process of hibernation for flora and fauna, in preparation for the rebirth of nature next spring. In Texas, the generous spring rains and the resultant growth of foliage should yield some impressive whitetail antlers. We look forward to seeing your incredible entries for the HSCF Annual Hunting Awards Contest, from here in Texas and abroad. Fall is the season that calls to us, as hunters, to go forth and harvest. There is just nothing like this time of year. Some parts of the U.S. and the world unfortunately dealt with drought and wildfires over the summer. While attending the annual summer meeting of the American Wildlife Conservation Partners in Missoula, Montana, I encountered the effects of such fires. As I looked out of my hotel room window, I could barely see the mountain ridgelines, their views obstructed by the smoke from several recent wildfires. It reminded me of the importance of legislation focused on active forest management, which we supported as part of the current bipartisan infrastructure proposal. The Energy & Natural Resources Committee’s attention to active vegetation and fuels management, in the energy section of the broader infrastructure package, would provide more than $5 billion in funding to harvest, thin, restore, and replant vegetation in strategic locations within National Forests to reduce the risk of wildfires. This legislation will benefit wildlife habitat, provide economic support for rural communities, and the ongoing resilience of the domestic forest products industry. Funding and legislation are such important tools in helping to preserve the future of hunting. I remind you of this because when we call on you to contact your state and federal legislators, it is important you reach out to them and express your opinions. I have sat in countless meetings with legislators and agency representatives discussing such issues. From those conversations, I always come away with the understanding of how important it is for organizations like ours, and its members, to make their voices heard. While we are on the subject of legislation, encourage your U.S. Representatives and Senators to support The Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). This legislation has now been introduced in the U.S. Senate. Its passage can help 10 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
state agencies and tribes reverse population declines for at-risk wildlife species before they become endangered, will invest more than $50 million per year in Texas for wildlife recovery and related public education and recreation and is expected to create 30,000 new jobs. It was drafted with input from hunters and anglers across the nation, to help both game and nongame species thrive, and it would mean more funds for habitat projects, population monitoring, and other initiatives that benefit sportsmen and women, as well as the species we pursue. HSCF’s ‘in-person’ events have been well attended. People just want to get out and commune with each other. Be sure to keep up to date with the many events we have scheduled this year by reading the Bush Telegraph or by visiting our website at wehuntwegive.org. We have several events already planned and a few surprises coming your way. Be sure to sign up and attend, especially the upcoming ‘Clay Crushing For Youth’ Sporting Clays Tournament to be held October 23rd. If you happen to be visiting our website, be sure and take a minute to visit our ‘Sponsors’ page. You will notice we have several new partners as well as many long-time supporters of HSCF and its mission. Please express your thanks by supporting their businesses. I look forward to working with our newly elected Board of Directors as we plan for the upcoming year and the HSCF 2022 Annual Hunting Expo & Convention. If you want a real ‘behind the scenes’ look at what it takes to put on this magnificent event, I encourage you to volunteer. Call the office or email Nancy Oka from our team at nancy@wehuntwegive.org to learn more. Last but not least, be sure to invite someone out into the woods with you this year. Hanging out with your friends at hunting camp is awesome. But there are lots of people who would love the opportunity to learn to hunt and procure their own proteins. Part of our job as hunters is to recruit others to the outdoors. I am guessing each one of you knows someone who wants to hunt but simply does not know where to begin or whom to ask for help to do so. Invite them to join you next time you venture into the wild. I know they will be appreciative of your efforts. In support of hunting and conservation,
Joe Betar Executive Director, Houston Safari Club Foundation
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 11
HSCF LIFE MEMBERS Bob Abernathy John Abraham Charlotte Alexander Richard Alexander Crystal Allison Shannon Alston Michael Ambrose Anne Avara Jacob Avara Skip Avara Paul Babaz Camp Bailey Cope Bailey Freddie Bailey Kenneth Bailey Frank Baird Jo Baird Mike Baird Jack Barksdale L. Irvin Barnhart * Wendy Barnhart-Lamplough Steven Beatte James Bell Lyndel Berry Tony Bessette Charlotte Betar Joe Betar James Biggerstaff Jeff Birmingham Craig Boddington Werner Boeer Jay Bonano E. Bond Greg Bond Pete Bonora Jeri Booth Frederick (Tony) Box Luanne Bozeman W. Steven Bozeman James Braus John Bridgwater Jack Brittingham Elizabeth Brueggeman Mark Brueggeman Joe Bruno Aaron Bulkley Matt Burke Robert Burke Byron Burris Grady Burris Quint Burris Angela Burrows
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JD Burrows Prentiss Burt Daniel Butler Turner Butts Don Byrne C. Jack Cagle Dennis Cain Thomas Cain Rick Callison Alex Campbell Bill Carter * Ivan Carter Paul Carter Ben Case Barbara Cavender-Lewis Preston Cavner Chris Caywood Tracey Cearley Alan Cegielski Doug Centilli Christopher Clark James Clark Steve Clark Craig Clendenin Michael S. Clifford Stephen Coale Keith Coleman Randall Coleman * Russell Coleman Joe Collett Dwayne Collier Frank Comiskey Hunter Comiskey Kevin Comiskey Alan “Bink” Cooke Dian Cooper Rocky Cooper George Councill Steve Crawford Steve Crawford Kenneth Crockett Gary Crouch Deb Cunningham Ford Cunningham Linda Cunningham Ralph Cunningham * Ralph Daigle Joe Davis Laurent Delagrange Armando DeLeon Charlie Desautels Elliot Desautels
Jen Desautels Perry Dillon Randy Donato Barry Donoho Tim Doucet Megan Doyel James (Red) Duke * Dannine Duncan Jan Duncan Scott Duncan Bruce Edwards Robert Elkins Walton Eller Susan Ellerbeck * Gary Ellison Will Ellison Shaun Essery Travis Findley Charlene Floyd Tommy Fogle Randy Fowler Nathan Foyil * Michael Franklin Bobby Frederick Aaron Freeman Nichol Freeman Donald French Warren Gallant Jeff Garrett Randal Garrett Scott Garrett Tanya Garrett Zachary Garrett Paul Geiger Frank Giacalone Salvatore Giannetti Gary Glesby Carl Godfrey Russell Gordy Jeff Gorski William Gouldin Sandra Green Kevin Gregory Edward Guinn Dodd Hackman Clayton Hagerman Cory Hall James Halley Greg Harvey Vickie Hayes Charles Head Jerry Henderson
Mark Herfort Heinert Hertling Robert Hibbert Greg Hill Loren Hill Steven Hill Nicholas Hinze Suzanne Hixson Edward Hoffman William Holder Bill Honza Toby Huerta Gene Human Tanya Hurlburt Terry Hurlburt Harold Inman * Justin Itzel Keith Itzel John Jackson Jack Jensen W.A. “Bill” Jentsch Clay Johnson Todd Johnson Robert Jones Harris Junell Darrell Kainer David Kalich Susan Kalich Kirk Kanady Michelle Kangas Gaye Kelsey John Kelsey William Kelsey Julianne King Mark King Rick Kirk Jim Klentzman Robert Kneppler Dustin Knutson Philip Koehne George Kollitides Tommy Kolwes Phil Koonce George Kopecky Keith Lake Fred Lamas Wayne LaPierre Joel Latham Kyle Lehne Richard Leibman John Lindholm Eric Lipar
HSCF LIFE MEMBERS Tom Lipar Bryant Littlefield Mark Livesay Ricardo Longoria Cody Loverin Doug Luger David Mafrige Shane Mahoney Paige Manard D Martin John Martin James Masten Chad Matherne Wyatt McBride Mitzy McCorvey Tony McCorvey Ed McCrory Travis McWilliams Gerald Meinecke Chris Metz Lewis Metzger Greg Mills Brook Minx Howard Monsour Forrest Montealegre Paul Montealegre G.L. Moore Reed Morian Tommy Morrison Ron Mostyn Dustin Mykyte Jason Nash Shannon Nash Bob Neese Rob Neilson Scott Nelson Shaun Nelson William B. Newlin Rudy Nix K. Nunnally Carol O’Day Kerry O’Day Charles Onstead Kevin Ormston Neal Overstreet John Painter Gus Pankonien Michael Park Michael Parr Steve Pate Trevor Penny John Pepper
Melanie Pepper Grant Perry Stephanie Perry Will Perry Justin Peter Timothy Peter Bryce Phillips Carson Phillips Dusty Phillips Wilson (Woody) Phillips Thomas Powell Kevin Poynter Andrew Pratt Kymberly Pratt Charles Prince Sharon Propes Matt Pyle Carlos Ramirez Bryan Ray Christina Ray Lawrence Rearick William Reed Gayle Rettig Tim Richardson Keith Riggs Theresa Riggs David Ristau John Robberson Eric Robinson Larry Robinson Mike Robinson * Chuck Rod Robert Rod * Stephen Rogers William Rohrbach William Roosevelt Gary Rose Mark Rose Jerry Rubenstein Chris Ruhman John Rulon Gerald Russell Byron Sadler Sandra Sadler Michael Sample William Sample Michael Sandeen Joseph Sayers Corey Schaefer Scott Scheinin Robert Scherer Wade Schindewolf
Adam Schindler George Severence Wayne Sheets John Shelby Richard Shepherd Jason Shrieve William Simmons Austin Simpson Autumn Simpson Barret Simpson Becky Simpson Dawn Simpson Jacob Simpson Jody Simpson Michael Simpson Mike Simpson Travis Simpson Tristan Simpson Weston Simpson Charles Sitomer Sam Skipper Aurelia Skipwith Carter Smith Cooper Smith Jason Smith Mandy Smith Steve Smith * Tom Snyder Norman Speer James Stacy Kaylee Stacy Mary Edith Stacy Larry Stifflemire Mark Stouse Randy Strickland H. Stuart Greg Stube David Swan Dr. Lloyd Swiedom Sally Swiedom Leah Symens Tyler Symens Peter Tam Stephen Tam Larry Tatom Terry Taylor Mark Terpstra Robert Thomas Heidi Thomas-Kersh J.B. Tinney John Tobin Pete Trammell
Ted Trout * Hal Tryon Don Turner Aart Van Den Brink Jason Vanderbrink Phillip Veale Thom Venus Amanda Vick William Vick Juan Villaveces Glenn Vincent Jeffery Vinson Pierre Vorster Joshua Walker Greg Walla Rob Walsh John Waltz Dana Weber Rick Weber Larry Weishuhn Brian Welker Denise Welker Robert Wells Brian Welsh Lawrence West Matt West James Whaley Bruce Whitmire Bill Wilkinson * Ron Willenborg Steve Willenborg Gregory Williamson Alan Winslette Robby Winstead Kurt Wiseman John Wood Bill Woodall J.D. Woods Patricia Woods Debi Young Preston Young Brian Zaitz
* Deceased
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 13
OFFIC E RS
HOUS T ON S A FA R I C L U B F OU N DAT ION
Jeff Birmingham, President
Matt Pyle, Immediate Past President
JD Burrows, Treasurer
14 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Shaun Nelson, President-Elect
Will Perry, Vice President
Jamison Smith, Secretary
Kevin Comiskey, Vice President
Jerry Henderson, Historian
DI R E C T O R S HOUS T ON S A FA R I C L U B F OU N DAT ION
Ross Melinchuk, 2020-2022
Trey White, 2020-2022
Jody Simpson, 2020-2022
James Lofton, 2020-2022
Jeff Garrett, 2021-2023
Monica Williamson, 2021-2023
Bryan Ray, 2021-2023
Kevin Ormston, 2021-2023
Chris Ruhman, 2021-2023
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 15
OFFIC E RS HOUS T ON S A FA R I C L U B
Jeff Birmingham, President
Shaun Nelson, President-Elect
JD Burrows, Treasurer
Jamison Smith, Secretary
DI R E C T O R S HOUS T ON S A FA R I C L U B
Prentiss Burt, 2021-2022
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Gib Surles, 2021-2023
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 17
HOUS T ON S A FA R I C L U B F OU N DAT ION
COR POR ATE MEMBER S TH A NK YOU F OR SU PPORTING HSCF
Brush Country Studios / Prairie Mountain Wildlife Studios brushcountrystudios.com
Alaska Skookum Guides alaskaskookumguides.com
Capital Farm Credit capitalfarmcredit.com
Champion Ranch huntchampionranch.com
Forloh forloh.com
Gsell’s Whitetails gsellswhitetails.com
HomeLand Properties homelandprop.com
HuntersInc.com LLC
miltonlakelodge.com
Royal Outfitters royaloutfittersuk.com
Savé Valley Conservancy savevalleyconservancy.org
TEMPER A S E M P E R A T U R E C O N TA T U RO E XW . T E X A S T L. C
.
WW
R EO M
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Hawkeye Hunting Club hawkeyehunting.com
SilencerCo silencerco.com
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NC
CO
NT
RO
L SERVI
, CES
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Texas Temperature Control texastemperaturecontrol.com
WildLife Partners wildlifepartners.com
WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Grant Atkinson Michael Barraclough Jarrid Barry Jeff Beasley Robert Beckman Trey Bonner Travis Bonner Nicholas Bronske Derrick Carson Chad Chapman Joseph Chornyak, Jr. Nate Cook Brendan Corey Spence Crisco Patrick Darby David Ellerbe Nicholas Ellerbe Robert Forrest Larry Friesenhahn Kyle Fritz David Fusselman Matt Gwerder Douglas Haun Jim Hayes Arval Headrick Jacob Hinen Sarah Honadel George Horvath Keith Huber Jamie Hughes Zach Inskeep Wade Jackson Cody Jacobsen David Kadle,Jr. Noel Lapp Russell Leachman Andy Lehman Steve Leisher Anthony Liguori Grant Lincecum Austin Littleton John Lowry
Jason Mantey Justin Martin Joshua McGinley LisaC. McNamee Norman Mullins Corey Near Joe Neeley Jared Neiss David Nezzer Fernando Nomdedeu Joe O’Kelley Ashley Parker Christopher Parker Daniel Parker Danielle Pauline Shawn Polke Elana Pretorius Ryan Rabalais John Roll Christopher Schaefer Cody Schroeder Karen Seginak Craig Semrau Joel Smith Ryan Smith Dennis Stachewicz Nicholas Stewart Dave Tapia Curtis Teaster Richard Thresher Robert Tuller Carl Van Zyl Dominic Vigil Charles Whitwam Nolan Wieber Richard Wilson William Wilson
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 19
FROM THE CONVENTION CHAIR TREY WHITE, 2022 HSCF CONVENTION CHAIRMAN
I
hope that this finds all of you and your family healthy and well. The impact of Covid-19 has been felt all over the globe and in all walks of life, including the hunting industry. We were forced to cancel our Convention in 2021 as were many other hunting conservation organizations. I am sure that you are asking the question: are we having a convention this year? YES!! We are absolutely having a convention this year. This year, our Convention will be at the George R. Brown Convention Center and the Hilton of the Americas on the weekend of February 4-6, 2022. We will be back to the type of Convention that we have all come to expect. The expo will be at the George R. Brown Hall A and will be open all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will have a casual dinner and auction Friday night at the Hilton, which is always a great way to reconnect with fellow members, outfitters, and friends. Saturday afternoon, the ladies of the Gazelles will host their annual luncheon—an event that is always a highlight of the weekend. This year, the Gazelles
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lunch will include a live and silent auction as well as food, drinks, and games. This lunch is not just for the ladies in our organization, and all are more than welcome to attend this rocking good time. Saturday night will conclude with our annual black-tie gala, featuring a wonderful formal dinner with an open bar. We have worked hard to find some truly great entertainment for you this year. The Gala will conclude, as always, with a fantastic live auction. Our annual convention is a critical component of supporting our ongoing mission of education, conservation, and the promotion of our hunting heritage. After missing the 2021 Convention, I am sure that you are as excited about the 2022 Convention as I am, and I hope that you are planning to attend. If you have any questions, feel free to call or email me at: (713) 444-3977 or treywhite77@gmail.com. For tickets, call or email Nancy Oka at: (713) 6238844 or nancy@wehuntwegive.org. Trey White 2022 Convention Chair
Join UsUsOnOn Join
February 4-6, 4-6,2022 2022
GEORGE R BROWN CONVENTION CENTER GEORGE R BROWN CONVENTION CENTER
Seek � Wild HOUSTON SAFARI SAFARI CLUB CLUBFOUNDATION FOUNDATION
FRIDAY FRIDAY9AM-5 9AM-5PM PM
SATURDAY 9AM-5 PM
SUNDAY9AM-3PM 9AM-3PM SUNDAY
Discount Voucher Voucher
BUY 1 TICKET GET GET 11 FREE FREE Terms & Conditions: Buy one admission, get one admission free to the 2022 HSCF Hunting Expo. Limit one coupon per person. Valid for the Terms & Conditions: Buy one admission, get one admission free to the 2022 HSCF Hunting Expo. Limit one coupon per person. Valid for the HSCF Expo only. Intended for single use only. May not be combined with any other coupon, discount or offer. Not for resale and not redeemable HSCF Expo only. Intended for single use only. May not be combined with any other coupon, discount or offer. Not for resale and not redeemable for cash. Must be presented at the time of transaction. Customers without coupon will be charged full price of admission. Excludes banquets for cash. Must be presented at the time of transaction. Customers without coupon will be charged full price of admission. Excludes banquets and/or any other convention-related events. Offer expires 02/7/22 and/or any other convention-related events. Offer expires 02/7/22 ™
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN
21
SCT CHAIRMAN’S MESSAGE DEREK HAM, SPORTING CLAYS TOURNAMENT CHAIRMAN
Y
ou get one shot. Well, that’s a metaphor because you actually get lots of shots. But you get one chance a year to be a part of the HSCF Annual Sporting Clays Tournament and that is October 23rd at Greater Houston Sports Club. And because this is an annual event, we put a lot into making it the best sporting clays event of the year, and this year is no different. We’ve also added a few things this year that we think you’ll really enjoy! Country music artist Cooper Wade will be performing, and Houston Oiler legend Dan Pastorini will be shooting with a lucky team. You think he could throw the football – wait until you see him shoot. The raffle prizes alone will be a reason to go, how about the chance to win a Winchester SX4 Hybrid 12 Gauge Limited Edition 2021 Shot Show Special? While these are all things that will make the event great, the most important thing is the participation of our HSCF members and their friends getting together to shoot for a great cause – youth hunting, fishing, and outdoor education. What a great opportunity to catch up with old friends,
22 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
make some new ones and raise funds for HSCF youth programs! None of this would be possible without the generous support of our current sponsors like Wildlife Partners, Capital Farm Credit, Ruple Properties, COKINOS, Red River BBQ, Sam Skipper Companies, Rummel Creek Builders, Karbach Brewing Company, The Gun Cleaners, Alliance Graphics & Printing, FORLOH & more! A huge thanks to them for their support. Again, this event only comes around once a year, so you don’t want to miss this it! There are still spots open for teams of four or individuals to sign up to shoot. To register, you can call 713-623-8844, email nancy@wehuntwegive.com or sign up online at WeHuntWeGive. org. Sponsorship opportunities may still be available that quite literally support our hunting future by donating to programs targeted to getting our youth outdoors. See you October 23rd! Derek Ham 2021 Sporting Clays Tournament Chairman
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 23
Shifting Demographics:
Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing our Time-Honored Traditions BY ELLARY TUCKERWILLIAMS SENIOR COORDINATOR, ROCKY MOUNTAIN STATES, CONGRESSIONAL SPORTSMEN’S FOUNDATION
W
hy do you hunt? It seems like a straightforward question, but for many it’s not that simple. For me, I hunt for many reasons and to narrow it down to one would be disingenuous. I hunt because my family did. I hunt to put high-quality meat in my freezer. I hunt because it provides me with an unrivaled and profound connection to nature. I hunt because it’s a challenge requiring the perfect combination of preparation, skill, and luck to be successful. As a hunter, I am playing an active role in sustainable wildlife management while providing critical funding for state-based conservation efforts. However, as the demographics of our country evolve, fewer people outside of the hunting community understand this reality and it’s negatively impacting the future of conservation. For over 80 years, sportspeople have played a crucial role in funding conservation efforts in the United States through the American System of Conservation Funding (ASCF). The ASCF is a “user pays – public benefits” structure, unique to the rest of the world, in which those that consumptively use public resources (i.e., hunters, anglers, recreational shooters, and trappers) pay for the privilege, and in some cases the right, to do so. This funding system has allowed the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation to become recognized as the As with anything, most successful conservachange is tion framework in history. inevitable, and Today, most state fish and it is up to us wildlife agencies receive approximately 80% of to respond their funding through the accordingly or get ASCF while some states left behind in the still rely nearly 100% on the funding generated process. from sportspeople. Despite being broadly effective, the ASCF is not infallible. Because of its “user-pay” structure, the system is dependent on the active participation of sportspeople buying licenses and sporting-related goods subject to excise taxes via the Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Acts. Without hunters, anglers, trappers and recreational shooters, the system fails, which has become all too apparent in recent years as the number of hunters has declined. Hunting participation peaked in 1982, when nearly 17 million hunters purchased 28.3 million licenses. Since then, hunter numbers have steadily declined. In 2016, just 11.5 million people 24 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
hunted, equating to less than 4% of the national population. Fewer hunters mean less critical funding available through the ASCF to our state fish and wildlife agencies in support of their conservation goals and objectives. So, what has changed? The United States is not the same as it was in 1982, nor can we expect it to be. As with anything, change is inevitable, and it is up to us to respond accordingly or get left behind in the process. The decline in hunter participation can be attributed to numerous factors, but for the sake of brevity, we are going to focus on how shifting demographics plays a key role in hunter recruitment, retention, and reactivation (R3).
AGING COHORT OF HUNTERS
Baby boomers (individuals born between 1946 and 1964) encompass about 1/3 of all hunters nationally today. Through license purchasing trends, we know that when people reach their late 60’s and early 70’s, they generally stop hunting, not for a lack of passion, but primarily due to the constraints that come naturally with time. It is not unreasonable to estimate that within 15 years, most baby boomer hunters will stop buying hunting licenses entirely. This could be disastrous for the hunting community if we do not have the hunter recruitment numbers to counteract the 33% vacancy. Many organizations and state agencies have committed substantial time, energy, and resources into hunter R3 efforts to address this imminent threat to the ASCF and wildlife conservation.
RURAL-URBAN DIVIDE
Where people live matters. Historically, hunters have been predominantly from rural backgrounds and that makes logical sense. In general, individuals from rural areas have social systems that support hunting, they have a close family member or friend to serve as a mentor, live closer to huntable areas and have a greater overall level of exposure to and knowledge about hunting, hunting culture and the role it plays in conservation. Contrastingly, individuals from urban areas are less likely to have similar experiences or opportunities, which creates significant barriers to hunter R3 efforts. To put it into perspective, since 1960, U.S. rural population levels have remained stable at approximately 57 million, while urban populations have increased by 146.45 million people. Simply put, our urban populations are outpacing our rural populations, and our hunter R3 efforts need to reflect this reality.
DIVERSITY – MORE THAN JUST A BUZZ WORD
It comes as no surprise that hunters have historically been Caucasian men. However, in a recent study titled “Diverse University Students Across the United States Reveal Promising Pathways to Hunter Recruitment and Retention,” the authors surveyed undergraduates from 22 universities across the country and found that 22% of students surveyed had no hunting experience but were interested in trying it. Identified as “potential
Left: Fairly new to big game hunting, Ellary had a successful public land hunt where she harvested her first white-tailed buck in eastern Wyoming with her older brother. Right: On a spring hunt in eastern Washington, Ellary was able to harvest this beautiful Merriam’s gobbler with the help of her older brother and fiancé.
hunters,” this group was particularly diverse in which 47% were female, 38% identified as Black or African American, Hispanic or Latinx, Asian, American Indian or other, 43% percent came from urban hometowns, and 74% had no immediate family members who hunted. Increasing minority groups exposure and involvement in hunting is critical for the continued success of the ASCF and subsequent wildlife conservation. By recruiting and retaining hunters from diverse, underrepresented groups, we create a positive feedback loop, helping to breakdown existing barriers such as mentorship, lack of exposure, and supportive social systems which in turn facilitates future R3 efforts.
YOU HAVE YOUR REASONS AND I HAVE MINE
In addition to a shift in demographics, we know the motivations behind wanting to hunt within the “potential hunter” group is centered on “ethically and locally sourced meat” and their individual contributions to conservation (e.g., contributing to the ASCF, population control, or ecosystem benefits,) and less concerned with the “trophy” aspect. If we want hunter R3 efforts to be effective, appealing to this narrative may encourage those “potential hunters” to take to the field for the first time. Our message must resonate with the intended audience, otherwise it is a miscommunication and missed opportunity. Though many see these challenges as an indication that the ASCF needs to be reformed and that hunting is becoming an
obsolete activity, we at the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation see it as an opportunity to do better. We know the ASCF works! It has been working for the past 80 years through countless conservation success stories too numerous to list. As a community, we did a poor job paying attention to the shifting demographics and perspectives relative to hunting that has landed us in the current predicament. R3 programs are more important than ever and as a community, we need to ensure that those resources are being spent in the areas that can produce significant return on investment. While we hope to retain as many new hunters as possible, the fact is that not every person will become a lifelong hunter. This does not, however, necessarily equate to wasted resources. By providing those individuals with a positive hunting experience and educating them to the role hunting plays in conservation, we are creating allies. Now, when these individuals are presented with a contrasting opinion or misinformation about hunting, they have firsthand experiences and knowledge to question that rhetoric. So, when it comes to the ballot box, conversations within their social networks, or actively supporting someone’s interest in hunting, they are helping to breakdown the same barriers they faced. Let us do better, together. If you are interested in a more in depth look at Shifting Demographics: Challenges and Opportunities for Advancing our Time-Honored Traditions, visit www.nascsummit.org. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 25
Odds and Ends TURN ANY GAME MEAT INTO DELICIOUS SAUSAGE
BY SCOTT LEYSATH
I NEVER THOUGHT THAT MY PATH IN LIFE would lead me to a career on outdoor television. Although I’ve hunted and fished since I could cast a Zebco kid’s combo or shoot a Daisy BB gun, I lived vicariously through outdoor magazines and one of the best outdoor shows ever, The American Sportsman. Even though it’s probably been forty…OK, fifty years ago, I can still remember Bing Crosby and Phil Harris singing to each other while on an epic pheasant hunt. Yes, I’m that old.
Grilling Game Sausages
A passion for cooking made it possible for me to make a living sharing my style of fish and game cooking with others. From my first awkward cooking demonstration at a Ducks Unlimited event a few decades ago to producing shows for Outdoor and Sportsman Channels today, it’s been a memorable ride. And much like any ride, there are usually a few bumps on the road that make us appreciate the highlights of the trip even more. Just like hunting with your buddy at home, the best laid plans for a TV show can be bushwhacked by weather, people or a lack of fish and game. But getting out with friends, even when things don’t go well, beats sitting in my office any day. What is most important to me is meeting folks around the world who share the same enthusiasm for getting out of the house with the hopes of dragging something home for the dinner table. There have been more than a few surprises on my travels. I didn’t know that beavertail stew could be so delicious, and python is almost inedible. As much as I like a good chunk of friend rattlesnake, python is about the toughest critter I’ve had to chew on camera. I’ve met folks who claim that raccoon and possum are some of the best table fare on the planet. Given the choice between a heaping bowl of possum stew and a cheeseburger, I’ll opt for the latter. Perhaps I just need more possum practice. For many of us, it just depends on the type of foods we were raised on. Last year, I spent time with a family of turtle hunters in Nebraska and got a greater appreciation for what it takes to turn a 25-pound turtle into something not just edible, but really good. if you’ve only had fried chunks of alligator tail, you’ll go nuts over grilled gator tenderloin. Who knew? My world also includes preparing wild game meals for groups ranging from 10 to 1000. Given the choice, I’d prefer to show off a little for smaller groups since feeding several hundred people in a short period of time is mostly about mass quantities of food. My freezers are usually full of a variety of fish and game, both from the events and from personal hunting and fishing trips. I’ve always been a proponent of labeling and dating anything in the freezer and using the oldest proteins first. Before you start on this
season’s deer, it’s best to use up older inventory first. Considering how much meat and fish I prepare for events during a normal year, the stuff in my freezers usually gets rotated often. Pack up the older game in the coolers and make room for the next critters. For the past 18 months, there haven’t been too many events around the country, so I found myself with more meat and fish in the freezer than I care to have on hand. Wait. There’s such a thing as too much game? Even vacuum-sealed packs of frozen game do not get better with age. Oh sure, we’ve all had game that had been frozen for a few years that tasted just fine, but it’s been my experience that a deer steak from 3 years ago doesn’t taste as good as one from an animal I harvested a month ago. Recently, I took advantage of some downtime to clean out my freezers and, as much as I’d like to think I’ve got a handle on what’s on hand, there were a few surprises, including some meat that went directly to the trash can. I’m not sure why I thought it would be a good idea to hang onto a pack of python from 2015. There was also some freezer burn on meat that wasn’t packed properly, but the damaged parts can be trimmed away and the remaining meat should be fine. My freezers had several small packages of a variety of game – the perfect opportunity to turn them into a pile of game sausages. Along with stews and chilis, sausage making is an efficient way to make good use of random game meats, even the ones that are several years old. This might seem obvious, but it’s a bad idea to cook meat that doesn’t look or smell right. If it stinks, don’t try and cover up unpleasant aromas or flavors with a marinade. There’s a reason why it smells or tastes bad and it’s usually because it wasn’t processed or packaged correctly.
GAME SAUSAGES
Making sausage at home with harvested game meat is less complicated than you might suspect. To make things even easier, there are sausage kits at your favorite outdoor retailer that provide the user with simple directions that require no special culinary skill. Start with making sausage patties which can be formed by hand. If it turns out that sausage making is something you want to do FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 27
Top left: Wild Turkey Sausage Sandwich Top right: Grilled Game Sausage, Peppers And Tomato Sauce Right: Braised Raccoon Below left: Grilled Venison Sausage With Tomato And Red Onion Below right: Grilled Game Sausage, Peppers And Onions
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again, consider getting a good electric grinder and a sausage stuffer. In a few hours, and with a couple of extra hands, you can crank out a large quantity of tasty game sausages that can be substituted for the store-bought varieties. Poached in beer and topped with grilled onions, it’s hard to beat a homemade venison hot dog. Making game sausage requires the addition of ground pork or pork or beef fat. Unless you like your cooked sausage dry and crumbly, fat or another fatty meat needs to go into the grind. Adding about twenty to thirty percent ground pork to your lean, trimmed game meat will do the trick. My favorite cut of pork for sausage is pork shoulder. Cut up untrimmed pork shoulder into cubes and grind along with trimmed game meats. Now here’s a question you might want to ask your local game warden. I’ve yet to get a definitive answer. If you transform a pile of waterfowl meat into sausage, how does that affect your possession limit? In most states, possession is limited to two or three time the daily bag limit. Once a mallard becomes sausage, or just ground game meat mixed with pork and seasonings, does it still count towards your possession limit? Sometimes, it’s best not to ask these questions.
BREAKFAST SAUSAGE
Here’s a great way to make use of a pile of snow geese or a mixed bag of game meats, but also good made with any waterfowl, big game or upland game. Trim all silver skin, gristle and skin from the muscle before processing. Place the meat in a food processor and pulse until the meat is roughly the size of a grain of barley and not pureed into baby food. One of my favorite uses for game sausage patties is in a breakfast sandwich, complete with a fried egg, cheese and English muffins. Wrap a few with foil and load into a coffee can to surprise your buddies with a morning duck blind snack. Makes about 10 4-ounce patties
• • • • • • •
1 quart trimmed game meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 1 1/2 cups ground pork 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes 1 tablespoon brown sugar 1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, minced (or substitute 1/2 teaspoon dried sage) • 1/4 cup onion, minced • 3 garlic cloves, minced Place cubed game in a food processor and pulse a couple of times. Remove lid, stir contents and repeat the process until meat is coarse and barley-sized. Place in a bowl and mix well with remaining ingredients. Form into balls about the size of a golf ball. Flatten into patties. To cook, brown on both sides in a mediumhot skillet coated with vegetable oil.
SWEET-HOT AND GARLICKY GAME SAUSAGE
This one is even better when stuffed into a sausage casing and grilled over smoky wood coals. Makes about 12 to 15 sausages
• • • •
1 quart trimmed game meat, cut into 1/2-inch cubes 2 cups ground pork 2 tablespoons Cajun spice 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
Grinding Game, Pork And Apple
• • • • • •
1 tablespoon Tabasco sauce 1 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper 2 tablespoons brown sugar 1/4 cup jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced 6 garlic cloves, minced 1/3 cup onion, minced
Add meat to grinder or food processor and process until coarse. Mash together with remaining ingredients until meat will hold together. Form into golf ball sized balls and then roll into hot dog-sized pieces. Brown slowly in a well-oiled skillet.
FERAL SWINE AND APPLE SAUSAGE
Dried fruit and apple juice adds a hint of sweetness and red pepper flakes provide just enough heat. Trim as much of the visible fat away from the meat before processing. As with just about any four-legged game animal, the young females are much less “pronounced” in flavor than an old boar. • • • • • • • • •
8 cups ground wild hog 1/2 pound bacon, finely diced 2 tablespoons rubbed sage 1 teaspoon ground mustard 1 tablespoon crushed red pepper flakes 2 tablespoons kosher salt 2 tablespoons medium ground black pepper 1 cup apple juice, chilled 1 1/2 cups dried apple, minced
1. In a large bowl, combine hog and bacon. Mix well with your hands for 3 to 4 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and keep mixing for another 3 to 4 minutes. 2. Form mixture into balls, about 2-inches in diameter. Pack tightly together with hands, then place on a lightly greased sheet pan or on wax paper. Press down lightly on each ball to form a patty. For that store-bought look, cut them into uniform circles with a cookie-cutter or can. 3. Sausages should be cooked or refrigerated immediately. If they are not going to be cooked within 3 to 4 days, freeze for later use. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 29
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Revic PMR Smart Rifle Scope
GUNWERKS 15 Years of Innovation
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HINK ABOUT HOW TECHNOLOGY has changed the world in the past fifteen years. In 2006 social media was in its infancy and Myspace was king, the iPhone was still a year away from launching, and Netflix was only renting DVDs via postal service. Look at your own habits and those of your family or walk into any airport, coffee shop, or restaurant and take note of what people are doing. Whether or not life was inherently better or worse before you became aware of the word “emoji” is debatable. Right or wrong though, the way recent technology has influenced our everyday lives is staggering. Since 2006, shooting, and long range shooting in particular, has greatly benefited from technology. Fifteen years ago laser rangefinders were available and in their early stages of development. Most long range shooting solutions were developed from drop tables printed in books and then the needed data was copied to a small sheet of paper and taped to a rifle stock. Some websites had ballistic calculators, but as the first smartphone wouldn’t even launch until a year later, that wasn’t something you had access to in the field, so the same tape-it-to-your-stock solution was implemented. The vast majority of hunting optics had capped turrets so estimated hold-overs and various “long range” reticles were used. Getting a rifle and load to match up with those hash marks was a challenge. Rifle scopes with exposed turrets for dialing longer 32 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Gunwerks makes rifles for a variety of hunters, from sheep to dangerous game.
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 33
shots tended to be large, maximum power scopes used for benchrest or F-Class style competitions; and many of those did not have zero-stops or a way to keep the scope from accidentally being dialed while in the field. The 308 Winchester was the most popular long range cartridge and even the distance considered “long range” was arguably different than it is today. It was in that era, specifically 2006, that Aaron Davidson founded Gunwerks with an idea from the past but heart and mind set on bringing firearms into the future through the visionary application of innovation and technology. That idea was building and selling complete shooting systems, not simply a rifle. The complete shooting system idea was borrowed from 150 years ago when hunters could purchase a rifle with regulated sites, ammunition and all the gear required for their extended safari. At Gunwerks a shooting system includes much more than a rifle and ammunition. It includes the mounted optic, a customized ballistic turret, bipod, ammunition and much more. The whole shooting system together supports the company motto, “1000 Yards, Out of the Box!” What makes up a complete rifle system?
Student and instructor at Gunwerks Long Range University.
Rifle.
This is the platform. Everything else is an accessory. Long range shooting is demanding and the tools you choose will define your success. It has to be precise. Consistency is the most valuable attribute. A stable platform and trackable recoil enhance performance.
Scope.
This is a major component of a long range shooting system. Absolutely no point of impact shift is allowable, and the adjustment tracking has to be perfect. These features separate the best products from a large field of good ones.
Mounting.
To achieve the performance long range shooters require, a solid and strong scope mounting system is required. The best scope in the world is limited by the potential movement of the mounting system.
Ballistic Turret.
This customized feature offers fast ballistic correction for hunting and competitive applications. It’s the last component to be installed on the rifle system.
Ammunition.
Most guys are looking for tight groups at 100 yards. Precision at long range requires more. Temperature stable powders and better bullets with high ballistic coefficients get on target more reliably.
Rest.
A stable two point rest offering free recoil rifle movement is the secret to connecting the rifle’s potential to the shooter’s ability. Gunwerks uses a bipod and rear bag to get a steady platform. It is lightweight, portable, and has a quick release mount for a picatinny rail. 34 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Ballistic Ranging.
To get first shot hits at long range, you have to know your distance. The only way to accurately measure it is with a laser rangefinder. With the distance measured, you can calculate a ballistic solution for elevation and windage that corrects for air density and inclination. Rangefinding and calculating ballistic solutions has benefited greatly from technological advancements over the past 15 years and Gunwerks has been a leader throughout. In 2009 the Gunwerks G7 ballistics calculator was implemented as a mobile website solution and quickly experienced heavy, consistent usage. The quest for a ballistic solution for field use, especially when mobile coverage was unavailable, immediately became paramount. In 2011 the G7 Ballistic Rangefinder, the first in its class, was launched. This innovation allowed the shooter to range a target and account for environmental factors while displaying a shoot-to solution in MOA, MILS, or a Gunwerks unique BDC (bullet drop compensation) solution that worked with ballistic turrets. Simply stated, a ballistic turret cut for use at sea level could easily be used at 8,000 feet elevation with the G7 Rangefinder because it could account for the elevation of the cut turret and the actual elevation where the shot would take place, plus other environmental factors, and provide a shoot-to distance to dial the turret. The G7 BR2 Rangefinder was the catalyst for the improvements and innovation that brought about the BR2500 and now the new Revic BR4. The new Revic BR4 Ballistic Rangefinder is the culmination of 15 years of ballistic rangefinding expertise and technological advancement. The BR4 will range up to 4,000 yards and provide a shooting solution to its maximum range, unlike its predecessors. It features the new Revic solver with advanced wind and earth based effects to provide accurate, ultra-fast corrections in MOA, MILS, or ShootTo-Range for use with BDC turrets. It can be programmed via a connected Bluetooth device, and with Over The Air Update protocols it has access to the latest software improvements. Technology has come a long way from a small sheet of paper taped to a stock and this is the same vision and technological innovation that will continue to bring long range shooting into the future.
RIFLE INNOVATION
The gunsmith and custom rifle has been a fixture in firearms manufacturing from the very beginning. Quality work and craftsmanship is synonymous with most custom rifle builders, but most small shops are limited by resources and manufacturing capabilities. This limits the vast majority of gunsmiths to sourcing readily available components to assemble into a complete rifle. Gunwerks got its start on the same path, but with the vision to design, engineer, and eventually manufacture its own components without being beholden to status quo designs and manufacturers to supply components like actions, stocks, barrels, bottom metal and optics. The past 15 years have been a continuous quest to that effect. Starting with the LR1000 stock design the first year and the GLR rifle action introduced in 2014, 2018 brought the introduction of the ClymR, Magnus 2.0 and Verdict rifle stocks produced fully in house. In the same vein, 2021 holds in store one of the biggest paradigm shifts in Gunwerks rifle technology yet.
OPTICS INNOVATION
bullet drop for longer shots. Currently the 7mm LRM along with newer cartridges that were designed specifically for long, heavy bullets like the 6.5 Creedmoor, 6.5 PRC, and 300 PRC are primarily requested along with the capable 28 Nosler cartridge. Gunwerks produces loaded ammunition with extreme consistency, which is a key component for their rifle purchasers. When a ballistic turret is cut for a certain cartridge/bullet combination at the time of a rifle purchase, the customer benefits by the ability to order more ammunition later that will still match their turret. That is something very difficult to consistently replicate with large commercial ammunition alternatives.
TRAINING
Long range shooting is an entirely different discipline from traditional marksmanship. While the mechanics and fundamentals of pulling a trigger and making an accurate shot are the same, the adjustments and compensation for bullet drop and wind deflection require a scientific approach and specialized tools. Long range shooting takes a discipline that has been learned “on the job” for centuries, to a skill best learned in an organized and structured environment. To this end Gunwerks set out, not only to build the rifle and accessories needed to shoot long range, but also founded Long Range University to teach people the skills and confidence needed to use these tools to their full potential. Gunwerks built a state of the art range and training facility in Burlington, Wyoming in 2013. Since then, they have conducted training and hunting experiences around the world and in 2021 secured the new Sheep Mountain property outside Cody, Wyoming to provide a realistic setting for investment mountain shooting training.
A tight shooting rifle is the easy part. Quality, repeatable, long range-capable optics are what make or break the long range rifle system. Gunwerks introduced the G7 line of riflescopes in 2010 and the BR2 Ballistic Rangefinder in 2011. A 5 year multi-million dollar R&D project culminated in the introduction of the Revic PMR 428 Smart Rifle Scope in 2018. The Revic PMR and forthcoming Revic electro-optic ecosystem represent the state of the art in optics and modern long range ballistic solutions, employing just the right amount of technology and mechanical reliability to Significant put precise and efficient ballistic solutions in in CNC machining the hands of every shooter, from the beginner and enterprise resource to the pro. The PMR is a whole new way of looking at long-range shooting. When you management systems and dial the turret, it calculates the bullet trajecprocesses has enabled tory utilizing a full suite of sensors and an Gunwerks to handle advanced ballistic algorithm–and it calcuthe massive amount of lates the solution in real time. Just dial the variability from rifle to elevation turret until the display shows the target range. It’s as simple as that! rifle while maintaining
AMMUNITION/CARTRIDGES
quality and
Some cartridges have withstood the test of time in the hunting world. The classic 30-06 Springfield, 270 Winchester, 308 Winchester and 300 Winchester Magnum are prime examples. They continue to be manufactured and sold as primary options in most standard commercial hunting rifles. Competition shooters and long range hunters alike gravitate to cartridges that offer more efficiency or other forms of innovation. Over the years the primary cartridges of Gunwerks rifle builds have changed from initial offerings in rounds like 7mm Remington Magnum and 300 Winchester Magnum to more modern designs or popular wildcats that offered an increase in performance like the 6.5x284 and the 7mm LRM (Long Range Magnum) cartridge. Gunwerks founder, Aaron Davidson, developed the 7mm LRM to achieve balance over extreme performance. Getting away from the “faster is better” mentality and focusing on a cartridge capable of consistently firing a heavy and high BC (ballistic coefficient) bullet without punishing recoil was key. Modern technology from rangefinders, weather meters, and ballistic programs greatly increase the hit probability so the shooter can utilize consistent and efficient cartridges instead of relying on speed alone to combat wind and
CUSTOM CONFIGURED
Innovation plays a large role in the manufacturing of Gunwerks products. Offering customers the ability to choose options and configure their rifle system results in millions of possible variations. Rifles with a choice of steel or titanium actions, different cartridge options, color schemes, barrel lengths, muzzle breaks, stock lengths, bottom metal, consistency. and various optics produces rifles matched perfectly to each customer’s individual needs, making for a better shooting experience and more successful hunters in the field. This doesn’t come easy. Significant investment in CNC machining and enterprise resource management systems and processes has enabled Gunwerks to handle the massive amount of variability from rifle to rifle while maintaining quality and consistency. Although less visible to the outside world, this is one of Gunwerks’ key defining achievements.
SERVICE & SUPPORT
Great products are only as good as the support offered and the brand standing behind them. Gunwerks prides itself in providing unparalleled service and support with the goal being unconditional customer satisfaction. Gunwerks customers are customers for life, with ammunition, technical support, and rebarreling services available to the rifle owner for the life of the rifle. After 15 years of steady growth through innovation and technology, and no plans of slowing down, it’s hard to imagine where Gunwerks will be 15 years from now. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 35
36 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
preserving and growing the outdoor industry
join us MidwayUSA Foundation is a 501(c)(3) public charity working to sustain and grow the shooting sports industry by providing long-term funding to youth shooting teams. Every donation made is tax-deductible and allows the Foundation to assist in expanding and enhancing the leadership skills, confidence, and discipline of today’s youth through shooting sports activities.
877.375.4570
midwayusafoundation.org FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 37
I
Women Who Hunt
n 2020, there were about 15 million hunters in the United States.
The coronavirus pandemic has renewed interest in hunting, as the sport provides a way to get outside, enjoy nature and gather food for families. Several states have reported an increase in licenses: Michigan with a 27% increase in springtime turkey licenses, Wisconsin with a 12% jump in archery license sales and a 9.5% increase in gun license sales and Maine with a state record for deer hunting permits. The percentage of female hunters, estimated at 20% or 3 million, is small but growing. It has been, in fact, the only area of growth as the number of hunters overall have decreased over the years. Women are part of the new demographic of ecologically conscious hunters: organic farmers, nutritionists, conservationists and mothers who want to put healthy food on the table. According to Amy Ray, Georgia resident and president and CEO of The Sisterhood of The Outdoors, hunting also provides an encouraging and supportive learning environment. “There was always a supportive atmosphere around all the hunts I have taken over the years with women. It’s something I can’t explain with words; it must be experienced,” Ray said. 38 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Contributed by www.globalrescue.com/hscf
“It truly is amazing what can be accomplished when we support one another.” The Sisterhood of the Outdoors is a woman-owned company offering guided hunting and fishing trips to women all over the United States. As a Safe Travel partner, the company partners with Global Rescue to provide travel protection services to clients. “Women like to travel in groups and enjoy each other’s company when participating in sports. Hunting is no different,” Ray said. “In an online survey of our fans, 81% wanted to go on an all ladies hunting trip and 12% said they already do.” Not only is hunting a way to connect to other like-minded outdoor women, it meets a different need for each hunter. Here are some stories from women who hunt, why they hunt and what it means to them. “My first time out was hunting pheasant with my father, his friend and a German short haired pointer. My father and I were lucky to have a supportive friend who has
been hunting his whole life. He showed us the ropes and led us through fields behind his trusty pointer. After that day I realized this was going to become a huge part of my life. There were so many aspects that hooked me into the world of hunting. It was the quality time with friends and family, being with nature, having a connection with my food and pushing my own limits. I fell in love with hunting instantly.” — MARIE AMBROSE, upland bird hunter and nutritionist “I started out turkey hunting. I’ve also been whitetail, antelope, bear, upland bird hunting with my dogs and am extremely fortunate to have gone elk hunting three times. My hobby is now my obsession. I have two big freezers full of meat (it’s been over five years since I’ve had to purchase any meat at the grocery store) and the memories of hunting will last a lifetime.” — KAITIE OLSZEWSKI, an avid hunter, outdoor adventure enthusiast, and registered mentor in the state of Wisconsin “My hunting journey started when I was just a young girl. I was fortunate enough to have a father who was willing to let his daughter sit with him in his deer stand and talk his ear off on opening morning of Wisconsin deer hunting. For my 12th birthday, my father bought me my first shotgun. I practiced with that shotgun all summer, completed my hunter safety course, and was ready for the November rut and opening morning. This was the first time where I got to be the hunter and my father was the one talking my ear off. One of the best things he told me in the stand that day was, ‘Sarah, make sure you always look beyond your target before you shoot.’ That lesson my dad taught me has held true for me my entire youth and still holds true for me today.” — SARAH KASPRZAK, Wisconsin resident, mother, wife, and hunter
“The flame for hunting began flickering for me when I was a teenager. It wasn’t until I lost my mom to a long battle with breast cancer did my attitude toward life really change. I saw that life is too short and there were things I wanted to do in this life and hunting was one of them. I found a ‘Becoming an Outdoor Woman’ seminar in my home state sponsored by the game and fish commission. I loved it. Hunting and fishing is a never-ending learning experience. I may not reach all my goals, but fulfilling my desire to become an outdoors woman is the best thing I could do for myself. The connection with nature is fuel for my soul.” — LANA VAN WINKLE, Arkansas resident, hunt coordinator for The Sisterhood of the Outdoors, elite pro staff for Echo Duck Calls, and member of the Drake Waterfowl Elite team “After every hunt, I had a great story to tell even when I did not harvest anything. This is when I realized what hunting was about: It is about your story. Not what you killed, not how big it was, but the adventure and the lessons. I desperately wanted all of my friends and family to have this same feeling, so I began making them go with me. The stories we created were outstanding. I learned sharing this passion with others was what I was meant to do.” — SHANTANE STROHCHEIN, a licensed outfitter in Wyoming If you’re heading to a remote or backcountry area to hunt, Houston Safari Club Foundation recommends you purchase a Global Rescue membership and add it to your kit. It provides necessary travel protection services such as field rescue, medical evacuation, and advisory services in case of any emergency. Single trip, annual and family options are available. For more information, visit info.globalrescue.com/hscf or call 617-459-4200 and tell them you’re a Houston Safari Club, Foundation member. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 39
40 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Taxidermy at its finest
CAPTURE EVERY DETAIL
As A hunter you follow your dreams in pursuit of an experience that no man has ever seen, as a Taxidermist our pursuit is to re-create the experience of your dreams
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 41
MEM
BE
R
Chasing the
Gray Ghost in Botswana BY TIM HERALD
42 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Above: The Author’s 2021 bull from Botswana
T
Below: Tracker Kamura with the Author’s non-typical 57” Botswana bull
he kudu is one of the most widely distributed antelope in Africa, with a range stretching from Ethiopia in the north all the way down to South Africa. The diminutive lesser kudu can be found in East Africa, and there are many recognized subspecies of greater Kudu. The two subspecies that are hunted the most are the southern greater kudu that is the largest subspecies, and the Cape Kudu that is quite possibly the smallest of the greater kudu. Southern greater kudu are found in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Mozambique, etc., and bulls are roughly the size of a bull elk, and their spiral horns are generally between 50 and 60-inches though a few grow even longer. A 60” kudu bull is comparable to a 200” whitetail. 50-inches has long been a benchmark for a good bull, but the bull must also be mature and his horns “finished”. That means he has completed his turns, and his tips are either facing forward or out to the sides. Generally, if his tips are still leaning back, he needs more time to mature. Cape Kudu come from the mountainous Eastern Cape region of South Africa and are noticeably smaller than Southern greaters. Cape Kudu are darker in coat, and often have longer hair than Southerns, and mature bulls generally weigh 100-200 pounds less than their larger cousins. Good bulls will carry horns that will measure in the mid 40” range, and a 50” Cape Kudu is an exceptional trophy. For most first-time safari hunters pursuing plains game, the kudu tops their list of species they want to hunt. I have been fortunate to hunt kudu many times, and I think I have taken 14 bulls over the years in a number of countries and been on many more successful kudu hunts with others. In my opinion, there is no better place to hunt big trophy greater kudu bulls than Botswana.
The Kalahari region of Botswana has some incredible kudu genetics and a high population. In this area, a good trophy bull will be in the mid 50 inches, and the two places I hunt generally produce 1-4 super bulls that break the magical 60-inch mark each year. SUMMER FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 43
Above left: The Author’s friend and WTA client Randy Johnson with a 64” Botswana monster Above right: The Author’s son Drew with a very nice Cape kudu, notice the smaller body size and longer hair Below: Nothing like ending the day with a campfire in the bush
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A few years ago, I was hunting there and got a call on the radio about 8:00 a.m. that I needed to hurry and get to the other side of the property to meet another PH and a couple of friends. I was actually a bit worried, but when I got there, I saw what all the uproar was about. My buddy, Randy Johnson, had taken an incredible kudu bull that ended up at a bit over 64 inches. They knew I would want to see and photograph the bull, and I was sure glad they called me. It was a true privilege to get to lay my hands on those amazing horns. Interestingly, Randy’s hunting companion Shane Nielsen took a 59.5” bull the next day. What a 2x1 hunt! In June 2021 I returned to Botswana, and my plan was to hunt kudu for about 11 days and really concentrate on big bulls. I had taken about half a dozen bulls there before, including a 55” and 56” and a unique bull that had one horn growing downward and eventually into his neck while his other horn stretched the tape to 57 inches. On this trip, I planned to shoot any bull that just really appealed to me and then spend the rest of the trip looking for a bull that would break the magical 60-inch mark. The first morning of the hunt, PH Werner Lombard and I spotted a bull walking down a trail toward us, and the closer he got, the bigger he appeared to be. The bull was incredibly wide, and Werner guessed him to be about 55”. Since it was the first half-hour of the first day of the hunt, I chose to pass him, and that decision still haunts me. I think the bull was over 60 inches wide, and he would certainly have been the most impressive bull I had ever killed. Over the next few days, we looked over dozens of kudu bulls. We saw quite a few that would have been a no-brainer in most other places in Africa, and a few that were very tempting where we were. I was really kicking myself for passing up the super-wide bull on the first morning. We got some intel from a PH that had guided the week before my hunt, and he said he saw a massive bull in the general area of a waterhole on the southeast part of our concession around mid-day. We decided to spend some time in the area and see if we could find him. Werner and I took a slow walk down a trail and after a few hundred yards, spotted a nice bull feeding. He was nice, but not what we were looking for, and as we watched him through our binos, one of our trackers pointed out to our left a couple of hundred yards where we saw four more mature bulls and a couple of cows. One of the bulls had super deep curls and was wide, but his tips were not finished. Then I saw a beautiful bull with long, heavy horns pushing what must have been a hot cow. I asked Werner what he thought because I really liked the bull. He said, “Well, he is a great bull, but definitely not 60-inches.” I knew that, but I really liked the bull, so with a bit more discussion, we decided to make a play on him. The bull was actually pushing the cow closer to us, and we got low and made our way forward, using a thick bush as cover. When the sticks went up, the bull was only about 80 yards away, but facing away. As soon as he turned and gave me a quartering
The big bull lurched forward and was down within 10 yards. He was an absolutely gorgeous bull, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Kudu Gear On this hunt I was using one of my favorite rifles for heavy, non-dangerous game; a .338 Win topped with a Trijicon Accupoint 5x20x50 scope. The magnification is a bit more than needed in most of Africa, but this is an all-around setup I use for elk and moose as well. I had my scope on 5x for the close 80-yard shot in this kudu, but I have taken ibex out over 400 yards with the same setup. It’s an incredibly versatile rifle/scope setup that I have used all over the world. I love the illuminated aiming point for quick target acquisition, and the 50 mm objective really brings in light when things get dim early and late. In my .338, I shoot a 225 Grain Cutting Edge Bullets Lazer that is supremely accurate and has pedals that sheer off and do massive trauma, while the back portion of the bullet travels on like a jagged solid. These bullets have served me well all over the world on all kinds of game, and I have absolute and supreme confidence in their performance, no matter what I am hunting.
away shot, I put the aiming point of my Trijicon Accupoint right behind his shoulder and sent a 225 grain .338 bullet through his boiler room. The big bull lurched forward and was down within 10 yards. He was an absolutely gorgeous bull, and I couldn’t have been happier. We spent the next week looking hard for a 60-inch bull, but never found one. I figured I looked at well over 250 kudu bulls, and many of them were at least as good as the one I shot. My friends, Russell and Jay, both took a couple of beautiful bulls, each in the 55-57” range. You can bet I’ll be back looking for a 60-incher, but if I never find one, it doesn’t matter at all. Hunting kudu is a total blast, and any mature bull is a wonderful trophy. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 45
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FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN
47
SOUTH AFRICAN SPIRAL HORN SLAM
MEM
BE
R
By Gayne C. Young
The author with a hard-earned “grey ghost” of a kudu.
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An impressive herd of Cape buffalo encountered early in the hunt for Spiral Horns.
IT’S NOT THAT I EXPECTED THE SOUTH AFRICAN SPIRAL HORN SLAM to be easy; I just never expected it to be so action packed. During my seven-day hunt for Africa’s most beautiful horned animals, I was charged within five feet by a razor sharptusked bushpig, had my vehicle attacked by a warthog, and stood scared to death beneath a moon-sized UFO. All in all, it was a pretty normal African safari. Four species constitute South Africa’s Spiral Horn Slam: eland, nyala, bushbuck, and kudu. For my attempt at this impressive array of antelope, I booked with Limcroma Safari owner, operator, and friend of more than a decade, Hannes Ells. Hannes assured me that his concessions in the Limpopo region held “big kudu, big eland, big nyala…” Well, you get the picture.
KUDU
Despite its hide running the color spectrum from tawny to burnt charcoal, the kudu is known as the gray ghost. This is not due so much to mature animals being fifty shades of gray, but their seeming ability to disappear wraithlike into the African veldt. On my first day of hunting, Hannes, his cameraman and Limcroma Marketing Director, Melcom Van Staden, and I sat for several hours in a makeshift blind of camel thorn, acacia, and other brush. From this small enclosure, we saw warthog and kudu a plenty. Yes, kudu are ghost-like and difficult to spot
in the brush, but as I discovered in our time in the blind, this only applies to trophy bulls. It does not apply to kudu females, juveniles, and non-trophy bulls. These are actually quite numerous and very easy to spot. After a break for lunch in the field, we drove the concession, continuing to look for the non-invisible type of kudu. We soon found one with tall horns, a well-worn hide and bathed in dark maturity. The old bull was apparently magic, as well as a ghost, because he somehow changed the course of my bullet once I finally got a shot at him. I could blame my miss on the fact that the bull was only presenting a frontal shot through a narrow opening of thorns or on the fact that I was overly excited at seeing such a great animal on the first day, but the truth is that I missed. I’ve missed before and will undoubtedly do so again, despite all the practice in the world. Although frustrating, I’d rather miss outright than put a poor shot on an animal. The three of us returned to the same area the following day and again found kudu plentiful. We also witnessed sounder
FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 49
after sounder of warthog, fleeting impala, and scores of vervet monkeys. Nice bulls were spotted periodically throughout the day, but each was met with failed stalks, presented no clear shot or was found to be below par by Hannes. Shortly before sundown, we came across the same bull that I’d missed the day before - or so Hannes told me. I had no idea if it was or not. They all looked the same to me – big. This time the shot from my Hannes borrowed Birmingham .30-06 was true and the kudu went down. He was a marvelous old bull, with a reddish tuft of hair between his corkscrewed horns, and a great way to start my slam attempt.
BUSHBUCK, PART 1
Above: The author and his PH came across this white rhino while hunting nyala.
Below: Limcroma’s chalets are spacious, luxurious, and private. For bushbuck, Hannes, Melcom, and I along with trackers Steven and Bob drove about thirty minutes from the lodge to a river bottom along the Limpopo River. This border between the Republic of South Africa and Botswana was thick with scrub and reeds. We spotted three crocodiles in the muddy waters and the shores were littered with bushbuck tracks. Late in the afternoon, Steven caught a glimpse of a tall bushbuck darting into a stand of reeds. Predicting the buck would stay hidden, Hannes sent Steven and Bob to the far side of the heavy growth to try to flush the antelope towards Hannes, Melcom, and me. The skinners made a wide loop then came forward through the reeds. “Get ready,” Hannes whispered, “He’ll come out of there fast. Don’t shoot until I say though.” The tops of the eight-foot-tall reeds danced to and fro as Steven and Bob made their way through the thick. “Stay alert,” Hannes instructed just as the reeds to the left exploded with three bush pigs. Melcom turned to film the melee just as a huge boar tore through the reeds before us. He dove through the knee-tall grass and straight for Melcom. Hannes searching heavy African veldt, but seeing little of our targeted pushed me aside while screaming at the boar and thrusting his species. Impala, warthog, and blue wildebeest were plentiful, and shooting sticks forward—PHs don’t normally carry a backup rifle had I been after any of those, I would have had an easy time of for bushbuck. The boar changed course, not five feet from us, beit. An hour and a half before sundown, Hannes glanced a nyala fore disappearing into the darkness of the woods. A few moments bull he thought was worth a stalk. passed before Hannes burst into laughter. “That was the biggest The three of us duck-walked, butt scooted, and zigzagged to bush pig I’ve ever seen!” he exclaimed in sharp Afrikaans. “He’d within sixty yards of the nyala. The old bull meandered in and have sliced the intestines straight outta your gut had he hit you!” out of the low scrub, feeding on the green grasses that skirted I was hit with the sudden need for a drink. Good thing the day the tree line. Hannes set up the shooting sticks to stand a mere was over. En route back to the lodge, a very large warthog burst three feet off the ground and had me ease into them while in from the side road vegetation and straight for our vehicle. Hannes a seated position. gripped the wheel hard and braced for impact. The tusker nicked “Take him when you can get a clear… Wait! Wait!!” our left rear tire and the Cruiser lurched slightly. Again, Hannes Huh? burst into laughter, “What the hell?” He pondered, “Are all the “To the right! To the right! That’s a huge eland! Much better! pig species out to get us tonight?” Shoot the eland! Shoot the eland!” I shifted to my right, found Where was that drink? the eland just inside the tree line in my scope, and fired. The bull jumped at the shot, spun, then dropped. He was an espeNYALA, SORT OF cially old bull with an amber red tuft of hair between his horns, Following our day of charges, Hannes suggested we try a heavy dewlap, and an old age weight of more than a thousand for nyala. Once again Hannes, Melcom, and I spent the day pounds. He was well worth the last second switch. 50 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Above: Sable in the tall grass. Bottom: The author with almost 2,000 pounds of eland.
NYALA, FOR REAL THIS TIME
Day five brought a second attempt at nyala. This majestic species of the spiral horn is more wary than the others, and despite almost taking one in the open the previous night, are extremely fond of staying put in thick cover. The day was full of ostrich, wildebeest, impala, kudu females, and of course, warthog. By midafternoon, we’d cut the trail of a good ram and we’d come close to getting the shot half a dozen times. Luck finally shone on me and I got a quick running shot as he crossed between two camel thorn trees. Despite my snapshot, my placement was good and the ram fell quickly. He was a brute with a gorgeous longhaired hide of both stripes and spots and horns measuring a whopping 28 inches.
BUSHBUCK PART 2
Our second attempt at bushbuck took place at night. Hannes got a tip from a local farmer that “very big bushbuck” were coming into his fields to eat at night. That was all Hannes needed to hear. That night Hannes, Melcom, and I sat beneath an ink black sky waiting for the feeding hour. Hunting bushbuck at night with a spotlight is perfectly legal and the preferred method in SA. That’s when it happened. A bright light appeared on the horizon. Its intense halo grew and grew in size, prompting the three of us to ask each other, “What is that?” The halo further expanded until it surpassed in size the fullest moon I’ve ever seen. “Seriously,” I nervously choked. “What is that?”
I received no answer. Instead, we sat in silence as the evergrowing halo streaked across the sky and disappeared. In its wake, Hannes spotted a set of horns. I was still pondering the UFO when he told me to get ready to shoot. He fired the light and I caught the bushbuck in my scope. He dropped at the shot and my slam was complete. He was an incredible trophy with spiraling horns and, thanks to the UFO, one I’d never forget. Oh, the UFO? Turns out it was a rocket launched by Space X in the United States. It blazed an eerie trail over South Africa that caused mass concern and thousands of calls to the government from concerned witnesses. All I know is that it helped me complete my South African Spiral Horn Slam. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 51
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52 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
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FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 53
To learn more, visit us at www.wildlifepartners.com or email info@wildlifepartners.com
ON SAFARI with Esplanade Travel
SOUTHERN AFRICA BY JACKY KEITH, PRESIDENT JKEITH@ESPLANADETRAVEL.COM
TANDA TULA WEBSITE
Left: Lioness and cub in Kruger National Park, South Africa | Above: Tanda Tula-Safari Camp-Star-Bed.
R
udyard Kipling said, “one cannot resist the lure of Africa.” People are aching to get back on safari now that the borders are open. They long to wake early, climb into an open vehicle and smell the crisp fresh air that is the African bush. Just ask Jill Potash, Director of Esplanade Travel’s Africa Department. She is booking and rebooking large numbers of people eager to return to Africa. Jill visits Africa each year to find new luxurious safari camps for her clients. No matter how many times she is on safari, Jill will tell you that there is always something different to see and experience. Esplanade Travel is passionate about Africa and making your every safari dream a reality. Join us as we explore different camps in different countries. The sounds of the bush are calling, and you never know what awaits around the bend.
SOUTH AFRICA
You simply do not want to miss what the South African bush offers each and every day. Not that many years ago, fences separated the private game reserves, such as the Sabi Sand and Timbavati from the Kruger National Park. The Kruger National Park, a self-drive park, spans 220 miles from north to south and 40 miles from ease to west. When the fences finally were taken down, it allowed the animals to roam freely and provided a proliferation of game for our viewing pleasure. The game, in a word, is spectacular. There are so many luxurious camps in South Africa, it would be impossible to cover them all in one article. In the Manyeleti Game Reserve you will
find the Tintswalo Safari lodge. This magnificent camp boasts eight luxury suites and wildlife to fill everyone’s viewing wishes. Before or after your safari, you might choose to relax at Tintswalo Atlantic. Tintswalo Atlantic is situated about forty minutes outside Capetown on the world-renowned Chapman’s Peak. From the Manyeleti Game Reserve, Esplanade Travel can take you to the Timbavati Game Reserve. In the Timbvati is the well appointed permanent tented camp Tanda Tula. From the minute you go through the gate, you feel you have entered a friend’s home. The owners, Nina and Don, are there to ensure your stay is everything you desire. Every member of FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 55
RICK POTASH
RICK POTASH
the staff is treated as family to Nina and Don. There are twelve beautifully appointed canvass tents furnished with all the necessary amenities and then some. To go along with your accommodation are sumptuous meals prepared by Chef Ryan. He was asked for so many of his recipes that he started a blog and shared his most famous creations. You will want to experience Tanda Tula’s Star Bed. Your guide will take you to the Star Bed platform after your game drive. You will have a threecourse meal with the sounds and footsteps of the bush around you. Later, you will fall asleep, if you can, under the entire Milky Way, seemingly close enough to touch. During one afternoon game drive, when we stopped for
sundowners and to watch the South African sunset, we noticed two hyenas in the distance. The hyenas started coming closer and closer. Our guide said they were just two “teenagers” and were curious. They came closer still and the guide said just don’t move. The hyenas were on top of us and began to sniff our shoes. They then simply wandered along. It was an exhilarating experience. Also in the Timbavati is the Kapama Safari Camps. Kapama consists of four camps, Southern Camp, Karula Camp, River Lodge, and our favorite, Buffalo Camp. Buffalo Camp consists of ten luxurious tents. Kapama has left no detail undone in any of the camps. The food is delightful, and the guides are experienced and will make every effort to fulfill your safari desires. The most prolific game viewing in South Africa is in the Sabi Sand, where there are many extraordinary camps in the Sabi Sand. One such camp is Dulini. Dulini boasts six exquisite suites, all of which face the river. Each suite has a private heated plunge pool. You can relax in your plunge pool and watch elephants play in the river as you rejuvenate from a long day of travel or from the morning game drive. The meals are sumptuous, and one evening they surprised us with a candlelight dinner on the lawn. Dulini is a five-star camp with five-star amenities. The Sabi Sand is home to Inyati. Inyati, which means Cape Buffalo in the Zulu dialect of Shangaan, is a beautiful property with lovely suites. One of our more exciting experiences happened at Inyati. Our favorite leopard, Dayone, was up a tree with the remains of a meal. Hyenas were on the ground making noise. Our guide said that there were lions in the area and would be there Above: Hyenas in the Sabi Sand Reserve. momentarily. Sure enough, in a minute Below: Mother and son leopards at Kapama Game Reserve. or two, three huge lionesses roared by us and began to climb the tree to get at Dayone. Dayone kept going higher in the tree, and the lionesses finally realized they were too big and heavy to continue their pursuit of Dayone. Everyone survived, and we were treated to a remarkable sighting. A beautiful small camp in the northern part of the Sabi Sand is Arathusa. It has ten suites which all face a water hole frequented by wildlife all day long. Four of the suites are Arathusa’s ultra-luxurious remote suites with their own private plunge pool. They are far enough away from the main lodge that many guests choose to be driven back and forth. These suites are an amazing experience, and you never know the wildlife that is near. One day after lunch we chose to walk back to our suite. As we got closer, we noticed a visitor on our veranda. A leopard and her cub were stretched out
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JAO WEBSITE
Suite at Jao in the Delta.
on the veranda, simply relaxing. We quietly backed up and walked back to the lodge and driven back to our suite. When we arrived, the leopard and her cub had moved on. Also in the Sabi Sand is the Idube game lodge. Idube is a comfortable camp with wonderful food and outstanding game. At Idube, we were privileged to find the den for a pack of wild dogs. The den was filled with seven or eight puppies. One adult wild dog was always left to guard the pups while the rest of the pack hunted. When the pack returned to the den, we witnessed the extraordinary way all the adults and puppies are fed. A once in a lifetime sighting. And finally, in the Sabi Sand is the iconic game reserve of Mala Mala. Mala Mala is the oldest and largest private game reserve in South Africa. It consists of three camps. Main Camp, Sable Camp, and the exclusive Rattray’s. All of Mala Mala was recently reimagined. As fantastic as it was, it is even more spectacular now. Mala Mala’s wildlife is unparalleled. It is especially known for its number of leopard sightings. A wildlife photographer said of all the places he has photographed wildlife, none compares to the sightings and interactions found at Mala Mala. Many documentaries and National Geographic pieces have been filmed at Mala Mala. The reason they keep coming back is simple. Mala Mala is special. On one of our trips to Mala Mala, it was our final morning, and we were waiting for our transfer to the airport. We were on the Main Camp’s deck, just looking into the bush. We wandered down the stairs to feel the bush under our feet one last time and thinking that there was no place like this. Suddenly, four magnificent elephants began strolling toward us. They kept coming, and we decided the most prudent thing to do was to go back up the stairs onto the deck. Before we did that, a few more pictures were taken, and then we scurried up the stairs. What a magical way to end our stay at a magical safari camp.
BOTSWANA
The Okavango Delta in Botswana is a favorite destination of Esplanade Travel clients and offers both land and water safaris. You can have the traditional open vehicle game drive or perhaps enjoy a ride in a mokoro. The mokoro is a dug-out canoe that allows you a safari traversing the waterways of the Delta. Botswana is home to the largest population of elephants in the world, approximately forty thousand elephants. In the Okavango Delta, you might stay at Abu Camp in the Abu Private Reserve. Here you can spend time with the elephants of the Abu Herd. Observing this herd will provide you with a much deeper understanding of elephant conservation. Abu Camp has six en-suite tents. Each tent has a different flavor of décor which gives the lush feeling of the bush. You might choose to stay at Jao in the Delta. Jao is set among islands and is surrounded by forests and floodplains with an abundance of wildlife. The camp boasts of five luxurious suites and two exclusive villas. The suites have private plunge pools, lounge, and dining areas. The two villas have their own vehicles and guides, as well as their own chef and butler. In the Linyanti Region of Botswana is Savuti Camp, located along the Savuti Channel. These waters provide either plenty of water for wildlife or, as it recedes, offering rich grasslands. Either way, plains game, and predators, are content. In the Linyanti Region is the Duma Tau Camp. Duma Tau has seven suites and one family suite, all with private plunge pools. Duma Tau is run one hundred percent by solar energy and is one example of their dedication to conservation. Just to the north of Duma Tau is Little Duma Tau. Little Duma Tau has a sophisticated beauty with only four exclusive guest suites. The suites are fully appointed and offer an intimate safari experience. Also in the Delta is the Xigera Safari Lodge. Xigera FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 57
(pronounced Kee-jera) is named for the Pied Kingfisher which makes its home in the channels of the Moremi Game Reserve. Twelve suites are offered at Xigera. There are also two family suites, each located on an island and connected by a bridge. On our first night at Xigera, we were treated to a sumptuous dinner under the stars. Dinner was served not far from the bridge connecting the two islands. As we were dining, a large spotted hyena sauntered across the bridge simply to check us out. A wonderful addition to a delicious meal. The bridge was purposely covered with sand so that each morning you could track the wildlife that crossed the during the night. The next morning, we could clearly see that lions had made their way from island to island. On our first trip to Botswana, we took a sunset cruise along the Chobe River in a small vessel. We not only saw a beautiful African sunset but a game of “chicken” being played by a crocodile and large python. They would dive under our boat from one side to the other and all around us. I am glad to say that both safely went on their way. The real question is, were they performing?
ZIMBABWE
In Zimbabwe, Esplanade Travel can arrange a stay at the safari camp Linkwasha, located in the Hwange National Park. Hwange National Park is the largest national preserve in Zimbabwe.
RICK POTASH
Elementary school in Zimbabwe.
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Linkwasha offers eight fully appointed en-suite tents and one family unit. The main area of Linkwasha has multilevel decks, a pool area, and a winter lounge that overlooks an active waterhole. A sunken hide at the front of Linkwasha provides a unique place to view, up close, an endless and fascinating array of wildlife. Also in the Hwange national park is the camp Little Makalolo. Little Makalolo has a vibrant waterhole and offers its visitors a sense of privacy, especially for those who may like the remoteness of the bush. The camp has six traditional en-suite permanent tents and one family unit. The tents are lighted, and the water is heated by solar power. The tents are connected to the main part of the camp by teak walkways. While at Little Mak, you might want to spend a once-in-alifetime night in the bush at their Star Bed. Try falling asleep under the millions of stars overhead and the sounds of the bush around you. Also offered is a trip into the community to visit the school and homes of the villagers. Davison’s is a camp located in the private Linkwasha concession of the Hwange National Park. The camp has eight permanent tents and one family unit. Each tent faces a waterhole, which is often frequented by herds of elephants and buffalo. The main area has a large lounge and dining area which abuts a huge deck with an open fire pit. There is a small upper deck that is ideal to relax and observe all the wildlife at the waterhole.
JILL POTASH
Sunset and sundowners on the river in Zambia.
We would be remiss if we did not mention other exciting activities while in Zimbabwe. A visit to “The Smoke That Thunders” which is Victoria Falls is a must. It is the largest sheet of water in the world. For the truly adventurous, you might bungee jump from the bridge at Victoria Falls or zipline along the gorge. Not far from the Falls is an open craft village where you will find remarkable hand-crafted items to bring home. The local entrepreneurs will literally barter for the shirt off your back or the shoes on your feet.
six luxurious tents from which you can revel in the sights and sounds of the bush. The Busanga Bush Camp is located in the Kafue Region’s Busanga Plains. This intimate camp has just four well-appointed en-suite tents, each with its own veranda. Beginning in 2022, the Busanga Bush Camp will offer hot air ballooning. This is another glorious way to view the bush below.
ZAMBIA
The borders are open and as Rudyard Kipling said, the lure of Africa is irresistible. Esplanade Travel focuses on international luxury travel, and unique custom-designed trips have been our trademark for 60 years. Our staff has collectively traveled to over 150 countries around the world, and we sell the destinations we know the best and love the most! Our primary destinations are Africa, New Zealand, Australia, Southeast Asia, Italy, France, South America, India, the United Arab Emirates, and the islands of the South Pacific. ★
Esplanade Travel can also arrange for you to enjoy camps in Zambia. One such camp is Toka Leya, in the Victoria FallsLivingston area. Toka Leya overlooks the mighty Zambezi River. The camp has twelve roomy en-suite permanent tents as well as three family units. Each tent has an oversized deck on which to relax and enjoy the surrounding sights. The tents are all connected by wooden walkways that lead to the main area, which includes an infinity pool and sundeck. Esplanade Travel highly recommends a sundowner cruise on the Zambezi River. As you sip on your favorite beverage, you will witness the breathtaking sunsets over the Zambezi, along with the hippos, crocodiles, elephants, and a multitude of birds. In the Kafue region of Zambia is the camp Shumba. Shumba is named for the prides of lion seen in the area. The camp has
TIME TO GO ON SAFARI!
ESPLANADE TRAVEL 800-628-4893 | esplanadetravel.com info@esplanadetravel.com Instagram: @esplanadetravel FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 59
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T
LI
ME FE
MEMBER
wo very important men in my life were why I was riding in the suicide seat of the articulated, all-terrain vehicle known in shorthand as a Hägglunds BV, or even shorter hand, a BV. PH Julian Moller and Sena Trackers Dolish and ME MBER Francisco were taking my wife, Frances, and me out for a second time in an attempt to harvest a Cape Buffalo. We were passing through the beautiful Acacia-Mahogany-Palm woodland of Coutada 11. Coutada is Portuguese, meaning, well, a lot of things – a civic region, a committee’s topic – but in this case, it stood for a hunting area in the Zambeze Delta of Mozambique. We were on a safari with Mark Haldane’s Zambeze Delta Safaris. More accurately, I was on a safari. Frances, a confirmed non-hunter, was there to record with video and photography not only the various hunts but two TEDx presentations and material for several articles and an upcoming book. The current hunt was actually not in pursuit of a ‘trophy’. Instead, I had purchased the right to hunt a so-called ‘community buffalo’. It was really a trophy hunt in reverse. And, before it was over, I would understand
MY DAD’S RIFLE FEEDS A VILLAGE BY M. ARNOLD
that it is just as difficult to collect a ‘non-trophy’ as it is a ‘trophy’ Cape Buffalo. I would also understand that non-trophy bulls are just as huge, tough, and likely to turn the tables if the hunter makes a poor shot. Why was I hunting a bull whose horns and cape would never grace my trophy room wall? The answer is complex, and involves the two men mentioned at the front of this article, who are my mentors, one teaching me how to be a hunter and the other teaching me how to conserve African wildlands. The first was my late dad, the second is my friend Mark Haldane. Each has modeled the passion for pursuing game animals. Mark has also modeled the passion for ecosystem restoration.
A NON-TROPHY HUNT WITH A FAMILY HEIRLOOM
The genesis of my community buffalo hunt came about as I discussed the upcoming Safari in Coutada 11 with Mark Haldane. I mentioned that I would like to film one of the regular ‘meat drops’ by Zambeze Delta Safaris. A key facet of the conservation of Coutada 11 is the provision of 10-pounds of red meat per week, to each Sena family, from animals taken by sport hunters. In combination with the cooperative fishing program – also begun by Zambeze Delta Safaris – the meat drops provide 62 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
MBER
Above: Tiny passenger, hylid Left: Trusty steed, BV, for the next several hours Below: Time to find out what happened to the bull.
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the basis for alleviating the horrendous ecological cost from poaching. Mark’s response to my request to film a meat drop was, “Why don’t you hunt a community buffalo so that you can record, speak and write about the entire sequence, from hunt to meat drop?” This opportunity would give Frances and me an in-depth understanding of the connection between international sport hunting and the restoration and conservation of not only game animals but entire ecosystems consisting of myriad species of trees, birds, frogs, and insects, to name but a few. By providing the local Sena villagers with food, sport hunters like us were helping to make poaching unnecessary. Mark’s was a wonderful suggestion, and one I immediately agreed to. But, there was a wrinkle I wanted to add to the planned hunt. About 35 years ago, my dad brought me into his gun room and handed me a beautiful, custom-built, pre-war Mauser action rifle in .35 Whelen Improved. He told me that he wanted me to be able to enjoy it as much as he had. To the best of my knowledge, daddy (as I knew him) had never used the rifle for hunting. His flat statement though indicated his knowledge of its capability: “This rifle and caliber are sufficient to take any big game animal on the North American Continent.” Needless to say, I wanted to fulfill my dad’s unachieved goal of using the .35 for big game. Since the gifting, I had taken the rifle on two successful hunts for trophy elk and even carried it to Africa on my first safari where I used it to take a beautiful common zebra. The wrinkle I presented Mark Haldane was that I wanted to use the .35 for the Cape Buffalo hunt. The first thing Mark needed to know was whether the loads I would be using met the bullet-energy requirements for hunting dangerous game in Mozambique. Mark provided me with the legal minimums, and I reported back that my reloads exceeded those by some margin. Mark’s next requirement would take a bit more work. He stated flatly that if I wanted to use this rifle, I must use Swift A-Frame bullets. My reloads for the .35 normally wore 250-grain Nosler Partitions. I explained to Mark that they had always performed flawlessly on tough animals like big bull elk and zebra. Mark was unmoved. That led me to Bill Hober and his 250-grain, .35 caliber A-Frames. After working up the loads, the range workup showed that, as expected, the energy levels still exceeded the minimum for Mozambique. More importantly, the accuracy was equivalent to the original Nosler loads. I duly reported this to Mark and he gave me the green light to bring my dad’s rifle across. Fast forward through the year that was COVID, and here I was finally bouncing through the Zambeze Delta woodlands and floodplains. Given that we were not trying to locate the biggest bull on the block, I expected the hunt to be fairly perfunctory. To say the least, pride goeth before a fall. On our first outing, we cut the tracks of a herd of 70+ Cape Buffalo in the open woodlands. Of course, Julian, Francisco, and Dolish saw the tracks, determined their age, worked out the zigzag path they took, and, after four hours of amazing tracking, brought me to within 50 yards of the herd and a perfect non-trophy bull. And, I blew it. The bull presented a perfectly acceptable quartering-to shot, but 64 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
I could not for the life of me figure out what I was looking at. The best to say is that because I didn’t fire, I didn’t wound the animal. However, I am certain Julian was wondering what the heck was wrong with this neophyte Cape Buffalo hunter. After standing stationary for a minute or so, the bull ambled slowly into an Acacia-Palm thicket, and out of my life. Shortly thereafter, the wind swirled and we bumped the herd for the final time. We headed back to Mungari Camp; nimrod’s tail firmly clamped between his legs. The next morning found us once again heading back through the open woodlands that border the extensive floodplains of Coutada 11. And, once again, we drove into the tracks of a herd of buffalo. This was a herd of only 20 or so, but still large enough to pursue. Climbing down quickly from the BV, Julian loaded his .470 Nitro Express and I chambered a round in the .35 Whelen Improved. Though the energy levels of my rifle were definitely legal in the eyes of the Mozambique government, I admit to having some concerns about my ability to place the 250-grain bullet into the lethal zone on a Cape Buffalo. I was glad Julian would be prepared to backstop me with his double. The stalk was much shorter than the multi-hour tracking job of the previous day. Yet, still on display were the amazing
Left: Looking over floodplain grass to spot herd containing author’s bull Right: Author’s rifle, culling belt, and cartridge slide. Below: Waiting to work out the sign.
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tracking skills of Dolish, Francisco, and Julian. The manner in which they worked the swirling wind, taking us away from the unseen buffalo in front of us until getting the breeze back in our favor, while always relocating the herd’s tracks, was astounding. After only about 30 minutes, Julian pushed his hand back in the international sign to stop-and-crouch. He brought his binocular rangefinder up to his eyes and then lowered them slowly while motioning me to come forward. Dolish extended the shooting sticks and I slowly slid myself behind the sticks and my rifle across the support. What happened next spoke to the vagaries of hunting, in general, and pursuing a non-trophy Cape Buffalo bull, in particular. I rested over the sticks for longer than we tracked the herd – over 45 minutes – and while I watched the herd, Julian counted off multiple, mature, 40+ inch bulls that ambled in front of us, at times at no more than 20-yards. I promised Julian that Mark Haldane would not mind me shooting a trophy bull in place of a non-trophy animal. Julian assured me that because clients were sacrosanct, such an action would lead to Mark shooting the attending PH rather than the client. Our work with this herd ended when Julian was certain there were no shootable bulls. I really couldn’t bring myself to be too disappointed, given the magnificent experience of tracking the herd and then watching the animals go about their business at rock-throwing distance. Once loaded back into the BV, we headed straight into the floodplains. The torrential rains accompanying the wet season, along with previous cyclones, assured a wet ride. Pushing our allterrain craft through 10-foot tall grass, and stream crossings six feet or more in-depth, brought on showers of water, frogs, and grasshoppers; the animal intrusions were always amusing, with the amphibian and insect hitchhikers looking as surprised as us humans. We had made it about half a mile into the floodplain The quartering begins.
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habitat when Francisco called to Julian in Portuguese. From what happened next, I guess Francisco said, “Hey, boss, there are buffalo in the distance!” Julian stopped the behemoth and climbed up on the metal railing above the cab, giving himself another six feet or so elevation from which to glass. He didn’t stay up there long. Climbing back down, he informed us that there was a large herd just through the thick band of grass. Said grass was the 10-foot variety, and I wondered what it would be like to run into Cape Buffalo at bayonet range. I didn’t think it would make a difference to what we were about to do, so I didn’t bother asking my question out loud. Again on the ground, with cartridges in our chambers, Francisco and Dolish, with Julian close behind, led us into the dense floodplain vegetation. As we made our way, Julian would occasionally point to the tracks and dung left behind by the herd. Looking at my watch when we caught up to the partially-bedded herd, I realized we’d only been tracking them for 15 minutes. It seemed much longer, probably owing to the fact that it was difficult walking through the deep water, thick mud, and dense grass, all combining to [successfully] trip the newbie buffalo hunter. Julian brought me to his side and the extended shooting sticks, past the crouching Dolish and Francisco. Unlike the previous herd, this group of 100+ buffaloes held a number of bulls qualifying as non-trophy. The first one chosen by Julian decided to bed down before I could get a proper sight picture. Again, it was more from my lack of experience causing slow reactions to Julian’s instructions. Julian moved quickly to point out a secondary target, a bull standing in the clear and quartering slightly with his right shoulder visible. The lighted reticle of the Vortex riflescope rested briefly on his shoulder while I finished the squeeze on the front set trigger of the .35. I rocked back, but remembered to chamber another cartridge as I came down from the recoil. Julian quickly laid his hand on my shoulder and said, “Looked like a good hit. He rocked back and dropped his head.” Julian’s pronouncement aside, I worried that the shot had not been good enough or the rifle sufficiently powerful enough. Julian raised his binocular rangefinder to follow the bull, who was unsteadily making his way back into the middle of the herd. I lost the bull in the crush, but Julian’s trained eyes saw him go down. Whether fatally injured or not was still unknown, but it was, according to my PH and trackers, a great sign that he had laid/fallen down. What followed was the second worse wait in my entire hunting career. The worse was the year before in Namibia as we searched for my leopard shot out of a Mopane bait tree. In that case, we found the cat dead 20 yards from the tree. I desperately hoped that when we moved forward, we would find the buffalo bull dead as well. But, my mind kept going back to all the hunting videos and written descriptions, providing so much evidence of the unlikely outcome – a one-shot kill. Julian gave the herd time to clear out, and of course, the bull time to die. After 20 minutes he broke open his .470, glanced at the bases of the two cartridges, slapped the double closed, and told me to turn my scope all the
way down. You read about cotton-mouth and that was my experience as we walked toward the depression where Julian had seen the bull drop. After 50 yards, Julian raised his optics again, studied the ground, turned grinning at me with the words, “There’s your bull.” I used my own binocular rangefinder to look where he was pointing. I could see the classic positioning of a dead Cape Buffalo, head turned with horns flat on the ground and muzzle in the air. We still approached very carefully, my first-ever Cape Buffalo bull. Rifles at the ready, we circled and came from behind, creeping forward until I could touch the bull’s open eye with the end of my barrel. No reaction and I took a deep breath. The autopsy performed while Dolish and Francisco quartered the bull revealed the trajectory of the A-Frame. Centered on the front right shoulder, the slightly quartering shot had resulted in the 250grain bullet taking out the aorta, passing through the center of one lung, and fiMeat drop! nally lodging in the densely-packed grass in the rumen. Perfect performance, and proof positive that my dad’s rifle is not only sufficient for any big game in North America but can take animals as large as a Cape Buffalo bull as effectively as much larger calibers.
MEAT FOR 60 FAMILIES
As Ivan Carter spelled out to me in an interview: “Hungry stomachs have no ears.” He meant that when people are hungry, they do not have the capacity to see the need to restore and conserve ecosystems. Mark Haldane understands that as well. The Civil War in Mozambique had been over for a mere two years when Mark appeared in Coutada 11 in 1994. The Sena villagers, like almost all rural Mozambiquans, were protein-starved. Children were suffering from chronic malnutrition and severe protein deficiency, or Kwashiorkor – a visible sign of which was their terribly bloated bellies. Mark knew that if Coutada 11 was to become whole again, the people would first need a dependable supply of protein. His goal of 10 pounds of red meat per week, per family, probably sounded like a pipe dream to the hungry villagers, but Mark’s vision eventually came to pass. Though the National Institutes of Health still consider malnutrition in Mozambique of major concern, with nearly half of all children suffering from malnourishment, this is no longer true in Coutada 11. Gone are the bloated bellies in the children. Gone also are the concerns of the parents over when their next meal of protein might occur. It is much too simplistic to claim that providing meat protein to the Sena villagers in Coutada 11 has on its own led to the restoration and continued conservation of this portion of the Marromeu Complex of the Zambeze Delta. The Zambeze Delta Safaris’ manifold programs include an emphasis on anti-poaching using, logically, former poachers. They have also developed a community agricultural field and orchestrated the voluntary resettlement of all villagers into a central core area containing a school, housing for teachers, and a clinic. Taken together, these programs and others have combined to suppress poaching and
contain damage to natural areas through slash-and-burn agriculture. The results of these efforts have resulted in near-miraculous healing of the ecological web. For example, only 1200 Cape buffalo remained when Mark began working with the local people in Coutada 11 in 1994, now there are more than 25,000 of these animals roaming the landscape. Likewise, Sable antelopes have increased from 30 to 3000; waterbucks from a few hundred to approximately 25,000; zebras from eight to over 1200. As important as the other infrastructural improvements are, Ivan Carter’s words still ring true. Without food, the ecosystem in Coutada 11 and throughout the Marromeu Complex would still be in disarray. As Dolish and Francisco completed the preparation of my Community Buffalo, I considered what the bull represented. In pragmatic terms, there would be approximately 600 pounds of boned meat from the animal. There were also all the organs, carefully removed, cleaned, and packaged by the two Trackers. From this wealth of meat and viscera, at least 60 families would be preparing a meal of fresh meat this evening and drying the remainder for use in future meals. I kept pondering the chain I was seeing as we made our way in the BV, back to Julian’s Land Cruiser, and then on for another two hours to the village center. Palm branches collected by Dolish, Francisco, and some of the villagers acted as a bed for the fresh meat. Mothers and their children began congregating, large plastic bowls appearing on the ground adjacent to ‘my’ buffalo. While waiting for the distribution by the village elders to begin, the mothers chatted and laughed and the children played a game of dodgeball. I looked around and though bare feet and torn and dusty clothes was the rule among the children, no distended stomachs were in evidence. I think my dad would have been very pleased to know that his rifle, given to a grateful son, provided a wonderful hunting experience for his son, and even more significantly, food for an entire Sena village in the wilds of Mozambique. ★ FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 67
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Andy Buchanan Africa born TIA FIVE founder Andy Buchanan is here to help you find the perfect hunting destination regardless of your price point. TIA FIVE produces the hit TV show “this is Africa “ which aims at promoting the prosperity of Africa’s wildlife through conservation Hunting. proudly sponsored by the Houston Safari club Foundation.
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MEM
BE
R
The
King Bear “In the virgin forests of northern Manitoba dwell the kind of black bears dreams are made of.”
I
BY JOHN WOOTTERS— ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN PETERSEN’S HUNTING, JANUARY 1987
F BEARS’ EYES ARE SO LOUSY, WHY WAS this one peering up at me in my tree stand, from a distance of 20 yards, as though reading my dog tags? The question rattled through my skull as I instinctively tried to avoid eye contact, while the whole world stood still. He had the drop on me, no matter how clearly he was or wasn’t seeing me. He was where he wasn’t supposed to be and going in the wrong direction. Worse, he’d caught me with my back turned, hands gloved, noisy rain gear on, and my rifle leaning unhandily against a tree limb. Finally, he was obviously the biggest black bear I’d ever seen in the wild and the one for which I’d traveled all the way from Texas to central Manitoba. I didn’t know it then, but the situation was about to go rapidly and steeply downhill from there, too! I guess it all started when Editor Craig Boddington came back from a bear hunt with Manitoba outfitter “Trapper Don” McCrea last year. Craig had a bear hide, all right, but what really got my attention was his photograph of a pair of shed whitetail antlers McCrea had found on his hunting grounds. You may remember that picture, published with Boddington’s report on the hunt (“Manitoba Black Bear,” February 1985 issue of Petersen’s Hunting). Those sheds are fantastic nontypicals, quite high in the Boone and Crockett listing if officially measurable. Anyway, when Craig called late last winter and suggested I book a spring bear hunt with Trapper Don, I had more than one reason for doing it. The first is that bears and bear hunting interest me. Some game species do, and some don’t. The black bear is one that does. My experience with Br’er Bruin is not all that extensive,
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but what there has been was exciting and left me looking for more. The more I observe the black bear and the more I learn about it, the more fascinated I become with this mysterious creature. Its personality sets it apart from most other North American big game, even the other big predators. It’s smart, cunning, wary, a little comical at times, and at other times, a little frightening. The black bear may possess the best nose of any game animal on the continent-and its ears may be even better than its nose! In 1986, Trapper Don operated two spring bear-hunting camps. One is his home lodge on the Duck River between the villages of Cowan and Camperville in west-central Manitoba. This represents the ultimate in comfort, even luxury, for a serious big-game hunting “camp,” with outstanding food, inside plumbing, and soft mattresses. The actual hunting, however, is hardly luxurious. Don locates his bear baits in the best spots for bears, not for his hunters’ convenience. Some of them are as much as 40 miles from camp, with no roads, and this usually means long, jolting, often cold hours on a three or four-wheel all-terrain vehicle or in an outboard boat, coming and going every day. Some of his best stands require as much as six hours, round trip, of such traveling. In view of the fact that you still have shooting light after 10:00 p.m. at that latitude in May, it means you’ll sit down to supper at perhaps 1:00 a.m. or later, and must be in the stand again before noon. Of course, most years McCrea does have a few baits out a little closer to the lodge, even including a couple that can be approached within quick walking distance of a pickup. They produce bears, too, but he saves them mostly for hunters who
Wootters with the king bear.
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need a little easier hunt for one reason or another. The other camp is a wilderness camp on Pelican Lake that is reached by floatplane. The 1986 spring season was only the second in which this camp had been hunted. Travel here is via outboard and/or shanks’ mare. The country is wild and beautiful, and the bears are plentiful and bold. Don’s camp is comfortable enough and the cuisine good enough that nobody suffers, but at the same time everybody knows he’s in the boonies. It’s a pleasant cap with a capable and congenial crew, and I particularly enjoyed my days at Pelican Lake. The maximum capacity of either camp is six hunters. For 1987, McCrea’s talking about an even more remote fly-in camp, in tents in real wilderness where nobody has ever seriously hunted before! That should be an experience! On my second afternoon at Pelican Lake, head guide Paul Flett took me across the big lake and up a river several hundred yards to the point where it entered the woods. There we quietly grounded the boat just below a small beaver dam across the river. From there, Paul led me toward the platform that I could see in a white poplar tree about 100 yards away in a point of woods projecting almost to the river’s edge. Between the boat and the stand tree, we were walking through a semi-marsh with dry, sixfoot-tall reeds. The tree in which the portable stand was located obviously was itself an old bear marking tree, and from the platform I could make out at least two bear trails in the leaves on the forest floor below. Don McCrea believes that certain travel ways are traditional, being used by generation after generation of black bears. These historic trails and the marker trees along them used by the larger bears as territorial signposts are important elements in choosing bait sites. As I settled myself on the platform and looked around, I was thinking that this place fulfilled all of McCrea’s criteria for a bait site. The bait itself was about 125 yards distant, actually across the river. A bear trail atop a large beaver dam immediately in front of the stand tree showed heavy and recent traffic. Don tries to place baits in spots where the bears feel secure and comfortable, usually on islands of higher ground in the plentiful swamps of the area, with water close at hand. If that water is running, so much the better; its sound may help conceal any accidental noise of the hunter’s movements from those fantastic ears. Before leaving, Paul whispered to me that two trophy-size bears were known to frequent this area and that he believed at least one of them actually lived on my side of the river. He cautioned me, therefore, to watch the area immediately around me as well as the bait across the beaver dam, saying that the bear might appear on my side and cross that dam to get to the bait. Then Paul retreated to the boat to wait. It’s important that you understand these spatial relationships. The boat, with Paul in it, was downstream and across the wind from my tree, about 100 yards distant across open, reedy marshland. When Paul stood up, I could see him plainly. When he sat down, the reeds concealed him from my position, although I could tell where he was. My perch offered a lovely, wild vista across the golden marshes reaching to the
Paul whispered to me that two trophy-size bears were known to frequent this area and that he believed at least one of them actually lived on my side of the river.
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lake in the east, bordered by scalloped edges of timber. Westward, I could see up the beaver-dam-broadened river as it curved away into the dark forest. As far as the eye could see, my stand and the bait barrels across the stream were the only signs that humankind had ever visited this lonely, beautiful spot. My vigil began about 4:00 p.m. The sky was clear and the weather pleasantly cool, but a nasty little wind blew steadily from the southwest. Eventually, it chilled me to the point that I decided to put on my rain suit to break the wind. This camouflage GoreTex and Cordura suit is, like much of the gear available today (as far as I can determine), absolutely superb protection and impossibly, hopelessly, abominably noisy! I’d as soon have a rock band along as try to still-hunt in that gear, but there seems to be nothing else that has all the protective and comfort features of this style of garment and is also quiet. Anyway, I figured the wind would die down near sunset, and a bear probably wouldn’t show up before then. I planned to slip out of the rain suit as soon as the wind showed signs of dying. In the meantime, I sat facing away from the wind, turning my head to check the bait over my right shoulder every 30 seconds or so, and then twisting a little further to inspect the near riverbank, as my guide had instructed me. The hours rolled by. I amused myself watching yellow-rumped warblers foraging among the just-budding poplars. Now and then, Paul would stand up King bear paw. to stretch and then disappear again in the yellow reeds. I dug out my lunch and polished off a sandwich and candy bar, saving the rest for later. I double-checked the rifle, for the twelfth time. Both the rifle and its ammunition are notable. The former is a one-of-five custom edition of the Marlin 1895SS lever action chambered to the .45-70 Government cartridge. But the basic Marlin was only the starting point. First, gunsmith Harold Harborth neatly converted it to a takedown model. The barrel was then shortened to 20 inches, Mag-Na-Ported, and recrowned, all by Larry Kelly’s craftsmen at Mag-Na-Port. Next, custom gunsmith George Vais restocked the rifle with a superlative piece of Fajen’s finest, checkered it, mounted a Williams rear peep and hooded-ramp front sight, and installed a Sorbocoil II recoil pad. Finally, all metal except the sights; hammer, trigger, and safety crossbolt were given a satin electroless nickel finish by T&T Technologies, Inc. The man behind this remarkable rifle is Mr. Jack Carter, guiding genius of Trophy Bonded Bullets, Inc., of Houston. Among the superb big-game bullets Jack manufactures are 74 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
some designed especially for use in this Marlin model. They literally elevate the old .45-70 cartridge into a different category, and the Alaska Guide Gun (as he calls it) was Carter’s way of dramatizing that fact. It seemed a shame to me to have this beautiful and deadly little powerhouse sitting around unblooded, so I mounted a Leupold 3-9X Compact silver-finished scope(not currently cataloged) and took it to Manitoba. The ammunition featured the Trophy Bonded 350-grain flat-nosed bullet moving at 1840 feet per second from the short-snouted Guide Gun. All my testing of this bullet had been on saturated pulp paper, where it invariably gave very deep penetration, classic mushrooming, and a retained weight of better than 99 percent! What I needed now was a real, live bear on which to see whether that astonishing performance could be matched in real flesh and bone. One thing that concerned me as I fiddled with the rifle, killing time in my tree, was the dual safety system on the new
Marlin. I’m an old hand with exposed-hammer lever guns, but all those I’d hunted with had only the traditional halfcock hammer position for a safety. The SS series of Marlins features a second safety, a positive, hammer-blocking crossbolt through the rear of the receiver. While I waited for my bear, I kept the hammer at full cock with the crossbolt “on.” The big advantage to this was that making the rifle ready to fire could be absolutely silent-but I feared I’d forget which safety was engaged in the excitement of the moment. As it turned out, that fear was not exactly groundless. I set the rifle aside and, lost in thought, went mechanically through the routine of checking the bait once or twice every minute. It was about 9:15 p.m. and the sun was lowering in the west. Suddenly, I became aware that something had - changed. I froze, dragging my wandering attention back from wherever it was, struggling to detect what it was that was different. The wind! It had gone from fresh breeze to flat calm instantly. Not a breath stirred. There was something else, too...a vague eeriness...every veteran outdoorsman has felt it; I just suddenly knew I wasn’t alone. Slowly, slowly, I swiveled my head just far enough to peek around the hood of my rain jacket. The bait area was still empty, but that feeling of presence was still rippling the short hairs at my nape. I twisted just another half inch, straining to see back along the near bank of the river-and the bear was there, below me, not 20 yards distant! He was staring calmly straight up at me. That he was a big, old boar was manifest by the breadth of skull and the ears that looked like little round teddy bear ears. Unquestionably he saw me, but I’ll never know how well. It’s even possible that the camouflage pattern of my rain suit actually saved me. In any case, he gazed at me for an eternity or two and then abruptly turned and started walking, with that exaggerated rolling of his rump that always marks a big bear. When he started moving, I started breathing again and began slipping the glove from my right hand and inching it with excruciating slowness toward the rifle. Then I realized the bear wasn’t headed for the beaver dam, the logical route to the bait. Instead, he was headed past me, straight for the boat and Paul! He passed almost under my stand, offering maybe a 10-yard shot, but I resisted the temptation to grab the gun and to heck with the noise the suit would make. By the time I managed to ease the rifle up into shooting position, the animal had turned down the very trail Paul and I had traveled, and was rolling along straight toward my guide-so straight in line with him that I didn’t dare shoot! I could only sit there and wonder whether Paul or the bear would be first to notice the other, and what would happen then. In the deathly hush, I could hear the bear rustling the reeds quite plainly. Then he turned abruptly right, so that I could have fired without endangering Paul, but disappeared at once among the reeds. A few seconds later, Paul’s figure reared up out of the reeds, rifle in hand, waving and gesturing wildly and pointing into the reeds. The bear had crossed the river on the small beaver
dam, in plain view only a few yards upstream from the boat. Paul could only guess that I hadn’t seen the big bear. Meantime, I’d stood up on my platform and found a shooting stance of sorts to cover the area around where I’d lost sight of the bear. He had to come out somewhere, and he finally did, reappearing at about 100 yards, shambling steadily along broadside. The cross-hairs settled on the point of his burly shoulder. I eased the trigger back and heard a metallic click when the hammer fell on the crossbolt, that should have alerted every bear in Manitoba and most of those in Saskatchewan! This one never hesitated, however, while I frantically slipped the crossbolt over, recocked the rifle, and lined up again. Once more the cross-hairs steadied, and this time the rifle bellowed. I heard the solid thump of the bullet and saw the bear buck as the scope rose in Mag-Na-Port-damped recoil. He was dead in his tracks when that bonded-core bullet ripped through him, breaking both shoulders and demolishing everything between them. We found him just one long jump from the first blood. The gorgeous, chocolate-brown pelt was perfect, unrubbed, long, and silky. It later squared six feet, 6½ inches. Winnipeg master taxidermist Ron Telesky would later score that broad skull at 1913/16 points, well into the Manitoba record book. Even without entrails, Paul and I were unable to lift the 450-pound carcass (estimated) into the boat. We had to leave it covered with a tarp, to be recovered the next day in a howling gale, snow flurries, and rough seas, when six men and two boats could be mustered. It was exciting while it lasted, but all worked out well in the end. One of the interesting things about black bears is their unpredictability. Even a lifelong bear man, like Trapper Don won’t prognosticate about bears. He covers enough bases, however, to produce a shot at a bear for the large majority of his clients most years, in fact, 100 percent of them in a couple of recent years. Of the dozen hunters in both camps during my hunt, 11 took bears by the fourth day (and the twelfth had had his chance.) Oh yes, Don had those big whitetail antlers mounted, and they’re even bigger than they looked in Boddington’s picture. Meantime, McCrea is booking his first paying deer hunters this November, and I tremble to think what they may drag out of those swamps. He also has an excellent record of success on guided moose hunts. He knows his onions, does Don McCrea, and he has the finest bear hunting I’ve ever seen. The address is Don’s Guiding and Outfitting Services, Box 44, Cowan, Manitoba, R0L 0L0, Canada. With outfitters like McCrea, and if the whitetail hunting turns out as I expect, relatively unheralded Manitoba may be taking its place among the premier big-game areas of North America. Couldn’t happen to a nicer place! ★
One of the interesting things about black bears is their unpredictability. Even a lifelong bear man, like Trapper Don won’t prognosticate about bears.
Mr. Wootters, a former HSC President, passed away in January of 2013. HSCF greatly appreciates his wife, Jeanne McRae Wootters, for sharing his legacy and wisdom. johnwootters.com FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 75
HSCFPHSPOTLIGHT
Meet Michael Webb of World Class Fishing & Hunting
1. 2.
WHAT IS THE PRIMARY AREA AND GAME FOR WHICH YOU GUIDE? Fishing Guide in Brazil, Costa Rica, and Mexico. HOW DID YOU CHOOSE A CAREER AS A PROFESSIONAL HUNTER?
I’ve always loved fishing and grew up on the water. After tournament fishing for years, we started an adventure trip business with hunting, fishing, and photo safaris around the world.
3.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST DANGEROUS HUNT?
A lion hunt in the Kalahari where we were stalked and charged by a male lion. It took eight shots to finally stop the lion.
4.
WHAT DO YOU WANT A FIRSTTIME CLIENT TO KNOW BEFORE HUNTING WITH YOU?
We are all about family and try to end each trip as lifelong friends in the outdoor community.
5.
WHAT DO YOU CONSIDER THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING HUNTING AND HUNTERS TODAY?
Currently, COVID with all the travel restrictions, however, more broadly the anti-hunters and anti outdoors types continue to infringe on our God-given rights to pursue our dream outdoor adventures.
6.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE HUNTING WEAPON AND/OR CALIBER?
300WSM for large game and 416 for dangerous game.
7.
WHAT DO YOU DO WHEN YOU ARE NOT HUNTING? Spend family time traveling around
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the globe on adventure trips. With 3 children, 3 grandchildren, and over 20 business partners worldwide, it keeps my wife and me busy.
8. 9.
FAVORITE MEAL? Fresh fish caught daily in Costa Rica and Cabo. WHY DO YOU HUNT/FISH?
I love the outdoors and just can’t get enough of hunting and fishing. More importantly, the people you meet and share outdoor adventures with are just great people.
10.
WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU COULD NOT DO YOUR JOB WITHOUT?
Support from my family and friends.
Michael Webb WORLD CLASS FISHING & HUNTING
worldclassfishingandhunting.com
(281) 948-6414
BOARDMEMBERSPOTLIGHT MEM
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Get To Know Me!
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5 Minutes With HSCF Board Member Monica Williamson
1. 2.
HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN A MEMBER OF HSCF? Since 2007, 14 years! WHY DID YOU WANT TO SERVE ON THE HSCF BOARD?
I believe the more active you are in an organization, the more you get out of it. So I always go allin on anything I volunteer for.
3.
WHAT DO YOU HOPE TO ACCOMPLISH AS A BOARD MEMBER?
I like to do my part to try to get nonhunters to take their emotions out of the equation so that they can see the fact-based evidence that supports hunting as conservation. I want to introduce more women to hunting and fishing so they can provide their own meat for the freezer, I call it grocery shopping with my 308!
4.
WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART ABOUT BEING AN HSCF MEMBER?
I love the people. I’ve made so many great friends through HSCF. I know that I could go hunt anywhere in the USA or internationally and I have a lot of people that I can ask for advice at any stage of my hunt, whether it’s prior to booking, what to pack, type of ammo I need, etc.! HSCF provides an incredible wealth of hunting (and fishing) knowledge at my fingertips!
5.
WHAT IS YOUR CAREER FIELD?
I’m a Proposal Manager for Halliburton/Boots & Coots. I’ve been at Halliburton in oil and gas for 30 years.
6.
PREFERRED HUNTING WEAPONRIFLE, SHOTGUN OR BOW?
Definitely my rifle… I have such a lousy shot with a shotgun! I keep trying to blame it on the shotgun and being left eye dominant…but
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honestly I think I’m just bad with a shotgun!
7.
WHAT IS THE ONE ITEM YOU WOULD HAVE IF YOU WERE SHIPWRECKED ON AN ISLAND?
The “girly girl” in me would want my mascara! But the survivalist in me would say bug spray because I’ve seen that show Naked and Afraid…those bug bites…not pretty!
8.
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST CHALLENGING HUNTING EXPERIENCE?
Hunting moose in Newfoundland was very challenging. You can be walking and suddenly sink in up to your knees. As big as moose are, they can disappear in a New York minute! I had shot at a moose and we ended up tracking it. We made a plan, and the guide was tracking the moose and trying to direct it towards our path for a second shot. After many hours, the moose had gone in circles and had gotten our guide lost! So we ended up hunting for the guide! My cheerleading whistling came in handy as I’d whistle and then from the phone he’d direct us towards his location from the sound! Long story short with a happy ending…we eventually found the guide and got my moose!
9.
OF ALL THE SPECIES YOU HAVE HUNTED, WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE AND WHY?
I love hunting everything in South Africa. I once shot two zebras (I couldn’t decide between a trophy or rug) but of course, they ended up quite a way from each other. I’ll never forget the look of the trackers after they had loaded one (which is no small feat) and then I made them unload it beside the other one I’d shot because I wanted a photo with both zebras together! My daughter, Haley, went with me to South Africa on that trip and that’s just such a special memory to get to have shared that experience with her. I, fortunately, have enjoyed many times taking a group of women to South Africa that have limited hunting experience or no hunting experience and helping them on their hunt. I enjoy hunting, but I get so much more back when I’m helping someone else get something on their hunting list or accomplish something, they never dreamt they could do!
10.
IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU TELL THE 18-YEAR-OLD VERSION OF YOURSELF?
I’d tell myself to have more confidence to try things, and I’d talk my dad into taking me pheasant hunting with him. It would be such a great memory to have. I’m from southwest Kansas and it was a big deal every year, but back then no one really thought to take their daughters! Also, if I’d learned to shoot a shotgun first, maybe I’d be a better shot! FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 79
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Sea Flats Safari
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SEEKING THE FLATS SLAM IN THE FLORIDA KEYS
“I
BY CHESTER MOORE, JR. t’s all fun and games until someone goes and misses a bonefish!” My friend Todd Jurasek and I stood in disbelief as Capt. Mo Estevez shouted that from the back of his 16-foot Hewe’s flats boat. We had a double hookup on big bonefish near the end of a day-long expedition into Biscayne Bay near Miami, Fl. And both of the fish, after several minutes of intense, long runs, just let go. We both missed fish the same way earlier in the day, so this was shocking. I can’t remember losing two hooked fish in a day ever, and I have caught everything from giant white sturgeon to wahoo around the world. But there’s something different about bonefish. Everything you’ve heard about their pound-for-pound power is true-plus some. These fish just don’t want to come to the boat. If redfish are bulldogs, bonefish are pit bulls crossed with greyhounds. Their power and speed are simply stunning. I started dreaming of catching bonefish as a little boy, sitting on my dad’s lap, cutting out photos from fishing and hunting magazines, and placing them in scrapbooks. We would take old copies of Sports Afield, Field & Stream, Saltwater Sportsman, and many other publications and cut out our dream fish and animals and talk for hours on end about them.
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The author caught this massive barracuda while fishing for permit on a recent expedition. (Photo by Lisa Moore)
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Before dad passed away in 2014, we got to go on many of those dream fishing and hunting trips from the pages of the scrapbooks, but bonefish eluded us. The timing just didn’t work out, so now was my chance. “Biscayne Bay has some of the biggest bonefish in the world on average, so it’s a great place for someone who wants to realize their bonefishing dream,” Estevez said. This bay’s natural beauty and biodiversity are intoxicating. Surrounded by thousands of acres of mangroves, with crystal clear water over a sweeping plane of seagrass, it is home to much marine life. At one point, a manatee surfaced as a stingray swam under the boat, and a young lemon shark cruised nearby. Taking all of this indeed made my spirit soar, but time kept ticking away. And we didn’t have much left, about 30 minutes. After watching a big bonefish swim through a clearing in the seagrass, I decided to make a last-ditch effort by casting there. And within a few minutes, the drag on my spinning reel was screaming, and the rod doubled over. Bonefish on! Any seasoned angler composure was thrown out the window. I asked Capt. Mo, if I were fighting the fish right like a rookie would and was more nervous than any point in my fishing life. A few minutes later, Capt. Mo netted the beautiful fish, a 24inch, nine-pound class bonefish, and a personal dream come true. Releasing the fish back into the clear waters after the photoshoot
was one of the most gratifying moments in my outdoor life. But more was to come.
TARPON
The tides at Marathon were moving in with vigor the night after our bonefish trip. As the sun began to set over this beautiful setting in the Florida Keys, a pair of big tarpon surfaced just behind the boat. With two rods out and rigged with super-sized live mullet, hopes were high one of them would take the bait. A few minutes passed, and the only action was taking in the unseasonably cool, peaceful surroundings. “Zzzzzzzzz!” One of the spinning rods doubled over, and the drag began to scream. Tarpon on! My friend and partner on this trip, Todd Jurasek, grabbed the rod as our guide Capt. Dave Schugar of Sweet E’ Nuff Charters coached him on fighting his first “silver king.” That nickname is used across state lines and international boundaries to describe what many believe is the most remarkable inland game fish on the planet. “I’m used to catching bass and rainbow trout in streams. This is unbelievable,” Jurasek said as he witnessed the five-foot fish do its famous tail walk. The only thing more incredible about tarpon than their rugged yet beautiful appearance is their jumping ability. And this fish put on a show.
Below: Tarpon, also called the “silver king” are arguably the most respected inland sportfish on the planet. (Photo by Chester Moore)
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Above: The author caught his first-ever bonefish while fishing in Biscayne Bay near Miami, Fl. He has caught many of the world’s top gamefish and says pound for pound nothing compares to the bonefish.
“Once I grab the leader, the fish is caught,” Schugar said, signaling the goal is to get the fish to the boat, snap a photo, and release without harm. Handling an 80-pound tarpon in a boat could get ugly, and the goal was to let that fish have a chance at producing more of its kind and thrilling other anglers down the line. Shortly after that, we had a false alarm as I hung into a giant shark that cut the line. And just before we left, I hung into a tarpon about the same size as Todd’s that jumped a couple of times before doing what these fish are famous for besides jumping. It shook its head and disconnected the hook. I was bummed, but not too much. All of this action happened in four hours in a short run from the dock that saw us getting a real taste of seeking this amazing sportfish. My interest in tarpon comes from a childhood encounter. At Bailey’s Fish Camp in Bridge City, TX, longtime owner, the late
“I’m used to catching bass and rainbow trout in streams. This is unbelievable,” Jurasek said as he witnessed the five-foot fish do its famous tail walk. Rob Bailey, told me and my dad he wanted to show us something. In a long cooler where he usually kept bait shrimp to sell was a six-foot-long tarpon. “A guy caught it out at the 18-mile light and wanted me to hold it until he could find a taxidermist to bring it to,” Bailey said. A wide-eyed young Chester was blown away and vowed that one day he would catch tarpon like that. Thankfully, we have come a long way in how we view fisheries. Today we can measure a fish, snap a photo and get a replica that looks as good as the real thing done without killing the FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 85
fish. And I saw that type of conservation ethic well intact with Capt. Schugar. I also had tremendous conversations about his love for catching broadbill swordfish in super deep water and experiences catching tuna, marlin, and other fish accessible via the Keys. Trips like that with skilled, ethical guides in tremendous settings seeking even more tremendous fish are the building blocks of fishing dreams. And in times like these, we need to keep our dreams big and, in this case, with a touch of silver. My time in the Keys was short and my time fighting the big tarpon was even shorter, but it made me want more.
BONEFISH: A GATEWAY DRUG?
Speaking of wanting more, earlier this year, I did an episode of my Higher Calling Gulf Coast podcast on the top five fish I have never caught, and the bonefish was number one. Catching one on the fly would be the pinnacle, but getting one on spinning gear was plenty satisfying. I had this conversation with Dr. Aaron Adams, Conservation Director of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust, and his reply made me chuckle and think. “Bonefish are sort of the gateway drug to flats fishing. Once you catch one, you can’t get enough, and you want to go after permit and tarpon, and then you’re hooked,” he said When I told Adams I had already booked another trip with Estevez to fish for a permit, he simply replied, “I told you so.” Adam’s statement made perfect sense to me. I’ve never done a drug in my life, and have always found the high of hooking into a big fish or calling in a turkey, plenty for me. The Flats Slam consists of the bonefish, tarpon, and permit, fish which spend some of their time in the deeper ocean but most of their life cycle in the flats.
The Flats Slam consists of the bonefish, tarpon, and permit, fish which spend some of their time in the deeper ocean but most of their life cycle in the flats. That first trip was in April 2021, and by July, my wife Lisa and I returned to fish for a permit. A stunningly beautiful fish, permit are part of the flats slam and a fish sought by Atlantic and Western Gulf of Mexico anglers when they spend time around wrecks and reefs in deeper water. The wind was a little strong for sight casting to permit with ease. We found a few over a flat that had a strong current flowing over rocks. Sea turtles and boxfish were abundant, and I cast to a couple of permit that showed no interest. We moved over into a deeper area and tried vertical jigging. This is very similar to snapper fishing I do in Texas around oil platforms, and the first few bites I had were snapper. They 86 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
were not the red snapper I am used to catching, but the equally beautiful mutton snapper. About an hour into my jigging, I got a hard thump on the line, and then drag started peeling quickly. This was precisely what a permit is supposed to feel like on the strike. By the time I gained any traction on the line, the fish had made a full circle around the boat. I had to maneuver the rod under the Power-Pole that had us positioned and put enough pressure on the fish to keep it from running under the boat where it could easily break the line. About ten minutes later, the fish did another lap around the boat, and just as I pulled it from under the motor, it moved high enough into the water column to see it. A long, cylindrical silverfish appeared in the blue-green water. At first, I thought it was a big king mackerel, but then its identity was unmistakable. “Barracuda!” I shouted. We had seen several tiny barracuda, but this was a monster, and it fought like one. After seeing us in the boat, the fish made another long run and me and Capt. Estevez was doubtful I would bring it in. The fighting part wasn’t the issue. The teeth were. Barracuda usually cut every line not rigged with a steel leader, and this one was not. After another five minutes of fighting, the fish started to get tired. I maneuvered it to the boat and landed this beautiful flats predator, which we released after photos. “I’m surprised you got it in. We rarely see barracuda anywhere near this size here in the flats, and the fact you hooked it just in the right spot is impressive. Congratulations!” Estevez said. I never caught a permit that day, but the barracuda more than made up for it, especially considering I was fishing with a medium-heavy trout rod. The experience reminded me how safari-like flats fishing could be. We ended up drifting over a school of one hundred or more barracuda in the 18-inch to the two-foot range, saw numerous giant stingrays, several species of jacks, and a massive nurse shark. Biscayne Bay and the flats of the Florida Keys are like the Serengeti, thriving with life and thrilling the senses.
GOING BACK FOR MORE
I will return with my fly gear to fish with Capt. Mo and catch a bonefish and a permit, but admittedly need to practice more. These fish present a more significant fly fishing challenge than anything I’ve caught. The bonefish humbled me. And it’s not just because of missing fish earlier in the day and the challenge of bringing in the unbelievably hard-fighting fish. It was because, for the first time in a long time, a fish took me to a different place. It was a place where fishing dreams were not just real, but alive and in vivid, living color. The Flats Slam represents a very significant angling challenge and one filled with adventure. When your bycatch on a fishing trip is a four and a half foot long barracuda, sign me up! In a time when the world seems as if it’s set on meltdown mode, such a place beckons loudly for a return. I have fought the mighty bonefish and began the pursuit of the flats slam, and I don’t think I will ever be the same. And that’s a good thing. ★
Capt. Mo Estevez uses his push pole and platform to seek out bonefish in Biscayne Bay. (Photo by Chester Moore)
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SAFARI HUNTING, CONSERVATION & SUSTAINABILITY Africa’s wildlife and wild lands are disappearing and relentless attacks on hunting accelerate this process. A renowned safari veteran discusses hunting, conservation and sustainable use in Africa. BY ROBIN HURT
Originally Published in Conservation Frontlines, October 1, 2019 DR. AMY DICKMAN AND 132 OTHER
conservationists and scientists wrote—in Science Magazine on August 31, 2019—that “imposed bans or blanket restrictions on trophy hunting without viable alternatives will imperil biodiversity.” Dr. Dickman is not a hunter and has no desire to be one, but her statement is to the point. For myself, I hate the term trophy hunting, as it does not adequately describe what my peers and I do for a living. Instead, it gives an impression that the trophy is the only reason we hunt. Nothing could be further from the truth. I rather use safari hunting, although conservation hunting appropriately describes modern hunting in Africa too. I am a licensed PH, professional hunter, and have been one my whole adult life—more than five and a half decades—throughout the game fields of Africa, wherever legal, licensed hunting is or was allowed. It’s what I do, and I am proud of my profession.
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I am also, by choice, a conservationist. I harbor a deep love and respect for wildlands and wildlife. My life would be meaningless and empty without them. On land under my care, I prefer to see wild animals roaming freely rather than domestic livestock. “Conservation” is often erroneously understood as strict protection. In reality, it stands for a host of activities relating to habitats and wildlife. Ultimately, conservation, in a holistic sense, is the sustainable and wise use of nature for the benefit of present and future generations. In today’s world, the Internet has become a tool for spreading information about the interlinking facets of biodiversity, conservation and hunting. Unfortunately, the Internet also became a broad battlefield for negative, bellicose and deliberately false anti-hunting propaganda. Most people who oppose hunting know animal meat as neatly wrapped packets from supermarket shelves. Users of cheaply produced meat, and also vegans, often conveniently forget that cattle and soybeans are produced on an industrial scale at the cost of great environmental damage, from over fertilization of fields to the disappearance of rain forests. Wild animals, on the other hand, are the product of a far more natural, sustainable and evolutionary form of land use; they are a valuable asset for private landowners and rural communities. Robin Hurt with his two Bavarian Mountain Hounds at home in the bush at Gamsberg Namibia.
Wild animal meat is free of additives and antibiotics and is wholesome, tasty and nutritious. Wild animals do not require large swathes of land to be cleared and they thrive in natural environments, even dry zones. With climate change hugely affecting parts of Africa with drought, it is wildlife that better tolerates these changes. However, people sharing the land with wildlife must be able to make a living. Wildlife is a renewable crop, and its sustainable use must not be negated. Sustainable use is the salvation of wild lands and wildlife. The outcomes of the recent CITES conference in Geneva underline the problems that Africa’s wildlife and people face today. Denial-of-use sounds the death knell for wild animals. Africa cannot be transformed into a huge national park. Yes, photographic tourism is tremendously valuable to African countries harboring big game animals. But something like 70% of our wildlife occurs outside fully protected areas, and not many of these outlying regions are suitable for tourism. Reasons include a lack of infrastructure and adequate accommodation, remoteness and difficult access, disease vectors, civil unrest and limited game-viewing opportunities. It is here especially that wildlife needs to pay its own way if it is to survive. These outlying regions themselves need defending. They are important buffer zones for the protected areas and also corridors for wild animals to move and migrate freely. If the buffers are eroded, the core protected areas become vulnerable. Legal, licensed hunting is the most successful form of use there; the harvested animals provide meat and safari hunting provides jobs and income for the rural communities. Hunting bans, or the absence of regulated hunting brought about by civil unrest, have had and are having a devastating effect across Africa: Wildlife numbers diminish, habitat is destroyed and local communities suffer.
CITES ’19 WAS A DEFEAT FOR AFRICAN WILDLIFE
At CITES 2019, in August in Geneva, the parties gave little credence to African conservation philosophies, models and successes. Member countries of SADC (the Southern African Development Community, which harbor most of our continent’s wildlife and have set aside vast tracts of land for conservation) were denied compensation for their wildlife stewardship and their sovereign rights were curtailed. It seemed they were punished for their good conservation programs. The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, CITES, was originally formed to control the use and trade of wildlife and wildlife products. But it has now been infiltrated by protectionist lobbies whose remit is based on the prohibition of any use. In Geneva, decisions were not rooted in science. Africans and their rural communities were denied a proportionate voice. Conservation and social sciences apparently do not matter. The CITES parties did not take into account that humans 92 HUNTER'S HORN™ FALL 2021
Mother and calf at Gamsberg, Namibia.
need to benefit from conservation of wildlife and habitat. Conservation is hugely expensive. Yet SADC requests to sell stockpiles of ivory to pay for conservation were rejected by the vast majority of delegates. It’s not surprising that talk of quitting CITES prevailed after the conference. SADC countries were upset that their growing wildlife numbers and substantial conservation investments were not recognized. The glaringly obvious precedence of wildlife over people, and more so the relentless propaganda of protectionist NGOs, made our SADC governments question the relevance of CITES. This year’s CITES outcomes were a huge victory for those opposing any sustainable use. SADC countries suffered a humiliating defeat, but these countries are continuing to foot the high conservation bill, with little or nothing as reward.
THE SAD CASE OF OUR ELEPHANTS
Today, nine SADC countries hold the vast majority of Africa’s elephants—in the case of Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, far more than their habitats can support. The other elephant countries are fast approaching their maximum carrying capacities. If the numbers of these large herbivores keep growing, habitat destruction escalates and then, especially in drought conditions, be prepared for huge die-offs from starvation. It happened in Kenya’s Tsavo region in 1971, when thousands of elephants died (along with many other animals, including numerous black rhino).
This leads to a problem. Should excess numbers be culled? Possibly. But in this day and age of misunderstanding of conservation and wildlife management, culling would cause international outrage. It is a most unlikely outcome.
SO, WHAT TO DO WITH THE EXCESS POPULATIONS?
Sterilization is very complicated, problematic and costly. Translocation, to repopulate areas of suitable habitat where elephant numbers have been significantly reduced through poaching, may work. But it too is an immensely difficult and expensive proposition. In 2018, Namibia exported 205 elephants, and recently six more, to a protected area near Kinshasa, in the Congo. They are reportedly doing well and breeding. In Zimbabwe, Sango Conservancy owner Willy Pabst translocated 100 elephants, mostly at his own expense, to a depleted area in the Zambezi Valley. They also are reportedly doing well. Laudable efforts both, but these numbers, though important, are minuscule when considering the extreme elephant over-population in some countries. It has been suggested to allow more elephant hunting at special rates and under special license to reduce numbers. But this form of culling does not appear to be a viable solution either. Most safari hunters do not have the skills to cleanly select and shoot a large number of animals. This is best left to the professionals. Safari hunting, where an old, individual male is selected, is a completely different activity and is valuable as a means of paying for conservation. FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 93
In fact, the only solutions are professionally executed major culls and internationally funded large-scale translocations. There is one more option: Let nature takes its course, resulting in the tragic and wasteful death of tens of thousands of elephants along with much other wildlife.
GIVING BACK THROUGH CUSTODIANSHIP
My wife Pauline and I consider ourselves custodians of the wildlife on the land under our care. Having earned our entire livelihood from wild animals, we want to give back. Here are several examples: We see the rhino poaching crisis as a challenge and, on land under our care, initiated a program we called Habitat for Rhino. We started by moving rhinos from vulnerable areas with high numbers to secure habitats with fewer or no rhino, to spread the risk. With our own funds and help from hunter conservationist friends from America, we bought five Namibian white rhinos in 2014. Five years later, we have nine rhinos and some pregnant females. Because of the poaching threat, we employ a specialized, armed anti-poaching team full-time. Pauline and I understand that a minuscule number of old nonbreeding black or white rhino bulls are under CITES approval to be hunted each year to help fund rhino conservation. I feel this is the only justification for hunting rhino today. Along with bringing in significant funds for conservation, this also protects younger, non-dominant bulls and helps boost reproduction. Yet we wouldn’t hunt any of our own rhino, on our lands, since we know each individual intimately and observe most of our rhinos daily. At our place, game viewing, photo safaris and, most important, licensed, regulated hunting of common plains game are vital pillars in the funding of the heavy cost of rhino protection. Without hunting, and our generous friends’ support, Pauline and I are not able to afford to keep rhinos—it’s as simple as that. Currently, rhinos are a financial burden, with diminishing value, and a security risk. Ultimately, only a legal horn harvest and international sales will cover the full cost of rhino conservation. (Rhino horn can be safely harvested at least five times during a rhino’s 40-year life span.) Legal trading in horn will make rhinos more valuable and worth keeping, with more communities and landowners wanting to protect rhinos. A legal rhino-horn trade would reduce poaching, as the price of horn would drop to a level that makes poaching not worthwhile and allows traders to deal legally with a controlled product. Currently, with rhino horn in Asia fetching four times the price of gold, poaching continues unabated. In Tanzania years ago, my late friend Joseph Cullman, of New York, and the late Costa Mlay, former head of Tanzania’s Department of Wildlife, helped me establish a pioneering community wildlife project. We wanted to give village communities
I have often heard that the professional hunter is Africa’s most endangered species. If the current trend of misunderstanding professional safari hunting continues, this could well be the case.
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real benefit from the legal use of wildlife. A percentage of all safari game fees were paid to the communities for their priority requirements—medical, water, education, food and religious worship. This resulted in dispensaries, schools, teachers’ housing, water points, maize-grinding machines, tractors, plows, anti-poaching vehicles, ambulances, building a church and a mosque, and a mobile education unit that showed wildlife films to school children. This project has turned former poaching communities into anti-poachers. It is now mandatory for all safari companies in Tanzania to support community wildlife projects. If safari hunting were ever stopped, for whatever reason, in a very short time these communities would revert to poaching, as they would no longer benefit from the legal use of wildlife. On a similar note, philanthropist Paul Tudor Jones sponsored the reintroduction of black rhino to three areas in the North Serengeti, and Tony Fitzjohn arranged the translocation of black rhino to Mkomazi National Park, both in Tanzania. The result is a black rhino population of 167 and growing.
THE REAL EFFECT OF HUNTING BANS
Tanzania banned hunting in 1973. In result, elephant, rhino and other animals were decimated. Commercial poachers—for ivory, rhino horn or bushmeat—don’t care if they kill small, large, female or male animals. Their motivation is quick riches. They are as indiscriminate as their preferred tools, steel cable snares and foothold traps. The result is animal suffering and extermination. We witnessed this in Tanzania’s Maswa Game Reserve in the early 1980s. After eight years of the hunting ban and no legal presence in the bush of licensed safari operators, thousands upon thousands of herbivores and large numbers of predators had died. Luckily, the Tanzanians saw the mistake of the ban. Hunterconservationists came to the call, invested in wildlife and safari operations, and salvaged the remnant herds in time. Botswana hosts the largest population of elephant in Africa— in excess of 130,000. Hunting was shut down in 2014. Poaching escalated. Wild animals killed or injured villagers and raided their fields. It was the village communities living with wild game who asked for a reversal of the hunting ban. This was duly considered by the Botswana government and now safari hunting is permitted. It is only right that those rural communities be allowed to derive income from elephant hunting. Zambia and Uganda also both reversed their hunting bans because poaching got out of hand. When legitimate hunters are taken out of the picture, poachers replace them. It’s easy for a person unaware of African needs and the reality of living day to day with dangerous wild animals to dictate preservationist policies from a distance or wave anti-hunting placards on the streets of another country and continent. But imagine your gran was killed by an elephant while out collecting firewood. How would you react?
WILL SAFARI HUNTING SURVIVE?
I have often heard that the professional hunter is Africa’s most endangered species. If the current trend of misunderstanding professional safari hunting continues, this could well be the case. But we shouldn’t give in so easily. Safari hunting is an important economic driver, and many social and conservation projects depend on safari hunting. Yet we do need to eliminate an element of unsavory behavior
Three of the Rhino at ‘Habitat for Rhino‘ Gamsberg, Namibia.
by a few so-called hunters. Their unacceptable behavior tars the entire hunting industry. Shooting of recently released animals in small fenced enclosures can’t be called hunting, and banning it requires appropriate action and tough legislation. Empowering self-regulation for professional hunting associations will do wonders to restrict lawlessness and unethical practices. The old and well-tried system of three-year apprenticeships for wouldbe professional hunters should be reintroduced as mandatory. It’s not enough to just pass an exam on game laws—practical experience earned in the bush under the leadership of a master guide is essential to learn good and ethical behavior and respect for wild animals. The whole point of proper hunting is the chance the animal has of escaping the hunter. When that chance is taken away, it is no longer hunting. The trophy is not the principal reason to hunt. As a matter of fact, the trophy—although of value to the hunter—should be the least important factor in a hunt. Being in the bush close to nature, the spirit of adventure, stalking and tracking game up close and on foot, the camaraderie around the campfire—that’s what it’s all about. The horns or tusks from an old male, worn down with age, are an earned memento of all that. The Spanish philosopher José Ortega y Gasset eloquently said, “One does not hunt in order to kill. On the contrary, one kills in order to have hunted.” There is the difference. It’s a maxim that most professional hunters live by and that our clients have adopted. The message in all this? Please consider the positive side of
safari hunting before damning it. Yes, wildlife is an evocative and emotional subject, but blanket condemnation, even if the intent is well meant, can be disastrous for wild animals, let alone for the people who live with them and depend on them. Let’s have science dictate the way ahead, not emotion. There is space enough in Africa for both photographic and hunting safaris—as long as both benefit humans and wildlife. At our place, we do both in equal measure; they pay for the high cost of conservation. Whether we are pro- or anti-hunting, we all have the same ideal: the well-being of wild places and their wildlife. It’s time to put aside our prejudices and cooperate for a worthy common cause. ★ Born in London in 1945 as the eldest son of a Kenya game warden, the late Lt. Col. Roger Hurt, DSO, Robin Hurt grew up on the family ranch on the shores of Lake Naivasha in Kenya’s Great Rift Valley. By the age of 18, Robin was a fully licensed Professional Hunter and a member of EAPHA, the famed East African Professional Hunters Association. Robin has hunted professionally in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Sudan, Central African Republic, Congo, Botswana, Zambia, Ethiopia and Namibia. He and his wife Pauline live full-time at their ranch in the foothills of the Gamsberg Mountain in Namibia. Robin’s new book, A Hunter’s Hunter—A Lifetime of African Safari, will be published next year by Safari Press. FALL 2021 HUNTER’S HORN™ 95
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PICKING THE
RIGHT HUNT From public land to private, early season to late, fully guided to DIY, the options of where and how to hunt can be overwhelming. On a bow hunt in Colorado, we take stock and break it down. BY JAMES DODKIN
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Aaron Gulley wearing FORLOH’s Exposed Camouflage.
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I
T’S A STILL, UNSEASONABLY warm late-September evening on a 12,000-acre Rocky Mountain ranch at the tail end of Colorado’s Sangre de Cristo range. A pair of bowhunters, including FORLOH owner Andy Techmanski, have been sitting on the fringes of a 9,800-foot meadow all afternoon. They are waiting for the nasal screech of a bull from the dark timber above the clearing, a sign that the animals’ have risen from their beds and might soon emerge. But the only break in the quiet is the occasional sweet trill of the hunters’ cow calls aimed at coaxing down the elk. Daylight fades to the ghostly dark of the gloaming, and it’s still silent as a morgue. “Damn elk,” says Mike Barraclough, lead guide on this hunt. Then he adds, “Tomorrow.” Barraclough never seems stressed nor speaks out of turn, but the slight edge in his voice is telling. It’s night two of a six-day elk hunt smack in the middle of a moonless stretch of typical peak rut dates — what should be prime conditions — and the four hunters and three guides on property have so far heard little more than the occasional feeble bugle. Techmanski cut short a public land elk hunt in southern Montana, where the animals were active, and his buddy harvested a bull, to travel here for this previously scheduled private-land hunt. The question of whether the trip down will be worthwhile has begun to hover.
Cool mornings, call for warm solutions as Andy Techmanski wears FORLOH’s Thermoneutral Jacket.
There’s a sense among public-land hunters that stalking on swathes of private property is like walking the Promised Land, with animals as abundant as tomatoes on the August vine. So it’s instructive to go from bugling elk on Montana public land to stagnation on a prized ranch in Colorado. No matter where we stalk or how much a tag costs, it’s still always the unpredictable, natural world. That’s why we hunt. On a private land tag,
Aaron used the 4-way stretch woven pant to the max and the ripstop fabric means, that snag on the fence won’t rip further.
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Left: Built in waterproof knee pads of the stretch woven pants saves Aarons knees from the rocks and moisture. Below: FORLOH’s exposed pattern camouflage, allows hunters to boldly stand in the open when needed.
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you are more likely to find better habitat and less hunting pressure. Then again, it’s not like big game understand boundaries with OnXMaps clarity. “As a rule, there are more animals — and better-quality animals — on a private ranch than on public,” says Barraclough, the son of the owner of Raton, New Mexico–based Kiowa Hunting Services. “That’s all subject to unit and season, for sure. But what this land produces versus what you’ll get on neighboring public is considerably different.” Kiowa has a small, curated range of private land options for hunters, like this elk hunt, but its broad offerings of public-land hunts across New Mexico, Colorado, and Mexico are the company’s bread and butter. Kiowa has made a name for itself in the Southwest with prodigious success rates on public-land ibex tags in southern New Mexico’s Florida Mountains, one of the most difficult and specialized hunts in the country. They also take above-average numbers of elk, deer, oryx, and other big game throughout the region. “We host every type of hunt you can think of in the places we serve,” says Barraclough. “From semi-guided tags with
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no accommodation across New Mexico to full-service private ranches throughout the Southwest.” When choosing a hunt, there are more factors to consider than just cost and the quality of harvestable animals. Barraclough says many hunters use a guide service like Kiowa to increase their odds of hunting, as the outfitter pool is allotted a higher percentage of tags than DIY out-of-state entrants. Also, many private-land hunts are over-the-counter tags, meaning hunters can buy the license, pay the guide fee, and the hunt is guaranteed—an impossibility on public lands. And on hunts like this one in southern Colorado, there’s a ranch house with plush beds, scrumptious food every time you come in from hunting, and a sunny deck to sit on when you’re not in the field. Says Barraclough, “Ranches like this are pretty comfortable. It’s not important to all hunters, but it’s part of what attracts people.” In Montana, Techmanski was self-supported in the backcountry — tents, food, carrying if there was a harvest. He came south for the potential. “I’m happy to do the work. That’s the experience,” he says. “The hope here is there’s even more potential.”
Left: Eye-spy, FORLOH’s Deep Cover camo is designed to break the outline of the hunter. Right: Size matters, the size of the Deep Cover pattern is optimized at 40 yards—ideal for bow hunters.
On morning three, Barraclough, Techmanski, and crew hunt you have in your head. the dry, piñon, and juniper lowlands to the west. Fresh track The hunt brings three more quiet nights. Despite the sullen cuts the dusty, crackly-leafed plains, which are ordinarily damp conditions, there are opportunities. A massive bull presents to and quiet from monsoon storms. This year the rains never maone hunter at 80 yards on a meadow, but it’s too windy to shoot. terialized. It’s fascinating to see how the FORLOH’s Deep Another hunter gets a sleeper shot at 18 yards on a 5x5, but he Cover camo blends against the trees in the clearings, while the decides to wait for one of the far bigger bulls in these woods. The Exposed almost disappears in the wide-open high desert. A third hunter calls a monster to 72 yards, but it’s out of his range. bull bugles at first light at the pond below the “You know the difference between a great hunters. After a short stalk and a few locator hunt and a shitty one?” deadpans Barraclough. calls to pinpoint the animal, the team sets up “Ten seconds.” But even when you don’t get in the rustle of golden aspens to call the bull what you want on a hunt, you often walk away It’s fascinating to see across. He approaches, promisingly, then goes with incredible encounters. Bulls blaring facehow the FORLOH’s Deep quiet. Damn elk. melting bugles just out of range are nearly as Cover camo blends Three more days and nights of sitting walgratifying as a harvest. against the trees in lows and meadows and tree stands ensue. The Night six, the last hunt, the team heads to a the clearings, while elk are doing what they do, which doesn’t in10,400-foot ridge, where there have been elk the Exposed almost clude walking into clearings in daylight. On sightings but few bugles. No hunter has so far disappears in the widethis ranch, the dark evergreen is so thick with harvested, and spirits are low. Barraclough is open high desert. downed timber and dead leaves crackling like undaunted. “Tonight,” he says. “We’re getting empty candy wrappers underfoot that the priit done tonight.” mary option for getting in bow range of an Early in the evening, the elk are buelk is to call and wait. This can be frustrating. gling on both sides of the knife-edge ridge. That’s lesson two about picking a hunt: It’s easy to think that Barraclough calls a herd from the north, but it plows over the all hunts, especially costly ones, are equal. But price doesn’t saddle like a coal-fired train. Here and gone. Barraclough conequate to the style of hunt. Before you book, envision the type tinues his soft cow calls. The bull circles around. He’s just north of hunt you want — from spot-and-stalk with lots of chasing of the road now. Techmanski shoots. The huge bull, with an arm’s to horses with wall tents and backcountry camps to sitting still reach antler spread, goes down. It’s a perfect shot on a perfect elk on a blind and bringing them to you. The season and weapon in the perfect situation. Expectations and hopes, public versus will determine a lot. Kiowa Hunting does it all, with everything private, lodges or camping—none of it matters once an animal from blind hunts in the early season to run-and-gun for those is on the ground. Making those decisions early, however, helps who prefer to chase. Ask in advance so you get the experience ensure you get the hunt you want. ★
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