25 August 2006, 00:34
retreeverretreever and chui...the hunt
Day 4 of the hunt....We are up with the alarm going off 'hello hello'...We're up and washed and I need a tea so I head to the table and get a cup of tea for Cherie and I... It is 530am and at the table by 6 and I am having a bacon and egg on toast and finish and ask Pierre what is the plan???Cherie says she might stay in camp and Pierre says come we will get Mike an impala..You might as well know impala have cursed me..They have eluded me for 2 safaris and I have missed 2 in two days...Damn!!! We get out of camp around 4 or 5 miles and Pierre says there Mike and an impala is out around 120yds.. I get on the sticks and BAM...curse broken.We go back to camp and have a coffee and rusks and Cherie stays in camp and we head out for more hunting...We are going to put a croc bait and check out the lion bait and look for buf...On the way out I bag another grand impala and we head to the lion bait with the impala in the back of the truck...Pierre tells me to get my rifle in hand and be ready, simba might be right under the tree...My level of excitement is off the scale and my eyes are scanning anywhere simba may be watching...The truck pulls 20 yds. from the bait and the boys are all over it and I hear words like 'simba' & 'chui' and they are picking hairs from the buf hindquarters...Pierre tells me both simba and chui have fed and there is a big hole eaten out of the bait...excess of 70 pounds of meat gone..."Mike", Pierre says, " do you want to set up the trail cam or sit on the bait.." I answer "lets sit on it"... It is a hot bait...So in Swahili Pierre directs the boys to build a blind 40 yards from the tree...We head back to camp still with the croc bait in tow and as we pull in I tell Cherie I have another impala even bigger then the first large one..This is a slammer...but I also tell her we are here for lunch and snooze then off to the blind for simba or chui..Who can sleep at a time like this?? My mind is going thru all angles of shots.. lions or leopards, I am aiming and looking where my bullets strike and where they come out...I do get out of bed and sit at the table and tend to all my gear...I"m ready...Kisses and hugs be careful my wife says and good luck!!
As Pierre and I drive to the bait I go over all of the possibilities and Pierre puts it in real simple terms...Mike pass the bullet thru the chest, case over...He then tell me "the cat, if a leopard will come in late..So when I see it, I will touch your left leg with my index finger...OK! To shoot I will squeeze your left leg.. OK"!! We arrive and the boys constructed an excellent blind..Looked like part of the scenery...
view from the blind
a view from the bait tree
we enter with my rifle in tow and Pierre tells me to sight on the bait, I do.. then they pass a string under the rear bell of the scope and tie it and the rifle is held in a neutral position...I load the rifle and chamber a round, the safety is off...We are ready and the boys drive away to put the croc bait in the river and listen for a shot and radio call from us...
It is 330pm when we enter the blind and it is a long time till sunset and darkness...I am passing time writing in my journal and believe it or not I fall asleep but my ears are still listening...Pierre is reading and it is now 445pm and Pierre presses on my leg, the signal and I look at him and think he is kidding me...I continue writing and occassionally look out the peek hole for me and see nothing but tree, sunshine and bait..Pierre again presses on my leg and finally carefully reaches over and takes the journal I am writing in and puts it on the ground...Now I realize he is serious...I am looking till my eyes go buggy and still can't see anything...It is now 5pm and there on my side of the tree I see the cats shoulder and a swish swash of the cats tail...It's chui and then the leopard disappears...510pm nothing... finally 520pm as if by magic he comes out from behind the tree on my side and I am mesmerized by the beauty and colors of a big leopard... his head is oversized for his body..He stares at us for a few seconds and we are frozen in time...Chui takes his eyes off of the blind and he then sits and looks up at the meal for him...In a blur he leaps straight up 8 to 9 feet and grabs hold of the buf and pulls himself up and sticks his head inside and starts to feed...His back is to me and while he's feeding, like magic the bait rotates 180 degrees and his exposed chest is showing to me..Pierre grabs my leg and squeezes and I smoothly methodicly slide up to the rifle..My brain is saying: hold the rifle, keep finger out of the trigger guard safety is off, acquire a rosette in the scope and not the cat..Squeeze the trigger, don't jerk it...At the shot I am frozen in time.. the cat flips off the bait and falls directly straight down D.R.T. dead right there!!! Now Pierre gets up and takes his rifle with him and calls me , "Mike come on out". and I am frozen still, looking thru the scope like it never happened...Again and again he calls me.. finally, finally I come to my senses and get up and walk from the blind...Still dazed, I walk up to the leopard and finally I have my prize of a lifetime...It is 522pm.. The 375 with a 300gr Hornady RN did it...
The boys arrive and the cat is posed for photos a huge leopard massive head...
We head back to camp all smiles and I get emotional thinking that I am here because of someone's generosity...A lifetime dream come true...
Pierre tells me Mike there are some interesting things going to happen and to go along with them and enjoy them... "Pierre, " I said, "I am here to enjoy all of the sights and sounds of Africa"...
Out comes the toilet paper tie and we stop and Dominic fires two shots from my rifle bam bam...We start towards camp and chanting from the truck comes.. Who shot chui, Mikey shot chui, in swahili and from the other end my wife said all hell broke out in camp when the two shots rang out..Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran for the road leading into camp and had branches from trees and were singing and answering the chants from the truck..When we arrived in camp I was carried around in a chair and dancing and singing..What an experience...
kabubi in camp
Mike
