Well, the only thing I can come up with on this one is I have an awesome, understanding wife who encourages me to chase my dreams, coupled with a crazy South African fella named Lammie that loves trad archery and shooting critters whom I've become good friends with. All that being said, with a little push from each of them, I'm making my return BACK to Africa in 2 weeks!
This all started up about a month ago while I was on a short family vacation and started texting back an forth with Lammie. Certain areas in South Africa are having a HORRIBLE drought (as in ZERO rain more or less over the last year) and Lammie's home place happens to be right in the middle of it all. When we were hunting with him back in May at his Kimberly place, he showed us pictures and talked about how bad it was at his home. Since it was so bad, he said he was going to have to either start shooting stuff to cut down on mouths, or start feeding to keep stuff alive. That's pretty much where this all began and an offer was was made to come help thin the herd a bit so to speak
. After a bit of scheming, and a little encouragement from my wife, I bought a plane ticket the day I got home!
Starting out, the main critter list comprised of Nyala, wildebeest, blesbuck, Impala, and warthogs. Then, things got interesting. A couple weeks ago I woke up to a few texts from Lammie wondering if I'd be interested in chasing bushpigs. My first thought was about Buff and reading all his stories about chasing the elusive critters and spending countless hours waiting for the opportunity at one, then the frustrations of having them slip off into the darkness. Also, the stories I'd read about on how bushpigs are the "poor man's leopard" hunt and closely resemble it in many ways all flooded my mind. Given the fact I don't think I could ever spend the kind of money it would take to kill a leopard, much less hunt for one, I was not going to let this chance pass, and I quickly replied with "Let's give it a whirl!"
So, all the prep work begins again and the arrow factory has fired back up. After folding a Magnus head on a wildebeest last trip, my good buddy Dano fixed me up with some heavyweight built VPA heads to try and I've been honing them into flying razors the last week or so and gathering arrows up. With that being said, all the arrows I had from my last couple adventures will be making the journey with me again along with a few fresh ones. Once I get them all gathered and lined up, I'll list whose all arrows are still in use and how many more need named.
Honestly, it really hasn't all set in completely that I'm fortunate enough to return so quickly. To say I feel lucky and blessed to have the opportunity would be an absolute understatement and I really don't think it will set in until I'm back on the plane.
Lammie set a stand a lil over a week ago and has lights up over bait and the pigs are coming in regular to. So, to get as much practice to the set up as possible, I hung a stand in the back yard and pulled my "bushpig" out and set it up at the same yardage as the stand site is set. This ought to be fun!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
This all started up about a month ago while I was on a short family vacation and started texting back an forth with Lammie. Certain areas in South Africa are having a HORRIBLE drought (as in ZERO rain more or less over the last year) and Lammie's home place happens to be right in the middle of it all. When we were hunting with him back in May at his Kimberly place, he showed us pictures and talked about how bad it was at his home. Since it was so bad, he said he was going to have to either start shooting stuff to cut down on mouths, or start feeding to keep stuff alive. That's pretty much where this all began and an offer was was made to come help thin the herd a bit so to speak
. After a bit of scheming, and a little encouragement from my wife, I bought a plane ticket the day I got home!Starting out, the main critter list comprised of Nyala, wildebeest, blesbuck, Impala, and warthogs. Then, things got interesting. A couple weeks ago I woke up to a few texts from Lammie wondering if I'd be interested in chasing bushpigs. My first thought was about Buff and reading all his stories about chasing the elusive critters and spending countless hours waiting for the opportunity at one, then the frustrations of having them slip off into the darkness. Also, the stories I'd read about on how bushpigs are the "poor man's leopard" hunt and closely resemble it in many ways all flooded my mind. Given the fact I don't think I could ever spend the kind of money it would take to kill a leopard, much less hunt for one, I was not going to let this chance pass, and I quickly replied with "Let's give it a whirl!"
So, all the prep work begins again and the arrow factory has fired back up. After folding a Magnus head on a wildebeest last trip, my good buddy Dano fixed me up with some heavyweight built VPA heads to try and I've been honing them into flying razors the last week or so and gathering arrows up. With that being said, all the arrows I had from my last couple adventures will be making the journey with me again along with a few fresh ones. Once I get them all gathered and lined up, I'll list whose all arrows are still in use and how many more need named.
Honestly, it really hasn't all set in completely that I'm fortunate enough to return so quickly. To say I feel lucky and blessed to have the opportunity would be an absolute understatement and I really don't think it will set in until I'm back on the plane.
Lammie set a stand a lil over a week ago and has lights up over bait and the pigs are coming in regular to. So, to get as much practice to the set up as possible, I hung a stand in the back yard and pulled my "bushpig" out and set it up at the same yardage as the stand site is set. This ought to be fun!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Comment