My wife agreed to marry me while we were listening to Frank Sinatra on the car stereo in the middle of the bush, watching one of the biggest comets (Mc Naught’s Comet) to cross the skyline and be visible to man in several hundred years…

There were a couple of conditions though…

I had to hunt her a zebra.

I had to catch her a fish (fortunately she didn’t specify the species)

I had to find us a ranch that we could buy and live on.

The ranch needed at least four dogs (she had eight of them back home in Spain where she was living at the time)

The ranch needed a GIRAFFE

The ranch needed at least three horses – one for her, one for my daughter and one for myself.

And I had to take her White water Rafting in Canada (Why Canada…? – Who knows – as the Zambezi is just up the road from here…)

Well I managed to get her, her zebra at one of my hunting concessions down in Natal and the rug now decorates the floor of the house on the ranch that we named Sabrisa which I found for us and where we now live on.

I “caught†her a fish in the river that runs through our ranch … (What I didn’t mention to her was that the fish was “caught†in a cage I found in the river and had been placed there by one of the natives in the area)

I still need to buy her, HER giraffe which will (like all the animals on HER part of the ranch) get a name and therefore not be available for hunting) as soon as I have finished fixing the fences (which I should be busy doing right now as opposed to writing this story…)

I have been unable to find any decent horses around here so this is something that will have to wait until later…

I need to find someone who will swap a Kudu hunt for a Black Bear hunt in Canada…before I will be crazy enough to take her White Water Rafting over there.

And we ended up getting four dogs – two Jack Russel Terriers, a German Sheppard and a Rhodesian Ridgeback.

But this story isn’t about a comet, wedding proposal, ranch, or white water rafting and neither is it about a horse or catching a fish…. This is the story of a bushbuck, a dog and his attorney…

I have written previously about Sabina’s love for animals and her inability to harm anything other than ticks and spiders. So when the time came to start looking for large dogs, we ended up at the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty against Animals (SPCA) as (in her words) “rescuing unwanted / stray animals was the “right thing to doâ€â€¦

It so happens that the first dog we saw at the at the SPCA was one of my favorite breeds – a two year old Rhodesian Ridgeback that was lying there with his head on his paws and a absolutely sad expression in his face – obviously not impressed with the circumstances in his tiny kennel.

But we wanted a female that could serve both as guard-and-family dog and chose a pretty German Sheppard (who – I should add – turned out to be exactly what we were looking for – a real Rin Tin Tin!) We were both dead quiet in the car on our way back to the Ranch, both of us staring blindly at the road in front of us… Then the words came: ...“Darling?????†“Yes????†“Yes!!!!!!†So we turned around and so the Ridgeback also became part of the household…

We decided to name him De La Rey – after listening to the (controversial) song about a famous Boer General… and from day one De La Rey fitted in and accepted us as his new owners and guardians.

So life continued here on Sabrisa…

De La Rey was a great addition to the family and soon crept deep into our hearts. He was exceptionally well mannered, already knew the basic commands of “sitâ€, “stay†and “heel†… and I had great aspirations for this dog to hunt leopard with me one day – something I was convinced he’d do well at given the reputation that this particular breed has as hunting dogs…

There turned out to be a problem though… as De La Rey preferred to hunt alone…

The first time we noticed this was when we heard a commotion outside one evening and while busy looking for the dogs, we came across a young Bushbuck female on our lawn that had been bitten through her back. Just one look at De La Rey’s face when he appeared at the scene of crime confirmed what we already knew… we had another poacher in our midst…

As PH and Game Rancher there was only one option… So with a mood as black as night, I reached for my handgun and purposefully headed towards De La Rey...

Then… suddenly… a voice sounded up behind me: “EVERYBODY AND EVERYTHING GETS AT LEAST ONE CHANCE IN LIFE!†Well, what to say? I wanted to marry this woman………

And before we knew it, September 14th (the day of our wedding) was approaching and our overseas guests started arriving. The first to check in was Sabina’s mom and her two best friends from Sweden and Canada – all three being animal lovers of note. And of course, they immediately fell in love with the dogs – especially with De la Rey who truly is an exceptionally good looking and handsome specimen…

The night before our wedding we had a pre-wedding party at the lodge and pretty much everyone who was invited for the wedding were attending. I got back to the house after dropping some things off at the lodge and was unceremoniously summoned to our bedroom where Sabina showed me yet another young bushbuck – this time a male – with bite marks on its back. Apparently she found the bushbuck running around on the property with De La Rey in hot pursuit… so she caught it and locked it away in the bedroom…

Sabina gave me a knowing look as I got the key to the gun safe……… I was still busy unlocking it when I heard a commotion and terrible yelping outside. I stopped what I was busy with and ran out of the house … finding a site so comical that I found it difficult to contain my laughter…

…there was my tiny Sabina – the great humanitarian and animal lover – dressed in her black evening dress, high heels and all…with the injured bushbuck clutched under her one arm and a sjambok (a very strong whip made out of hippo hide) in the other hand busy beating the living daylights out of De La Rey, while shouting: “You see what you’ve done now! Look at this poor thing (waving the wildly kicking young bushbuck in front of him)! Your Boss is very angry and went to go get his gun…†“Tonight he is going to shoot you because you’re STUPID!†“Why did you hurt this baby?†“I TOLD you there was no hunting over here…!â€

In the meanwhile the guests in the chalet had also heard the commotion and everyone came out to look at the spectacle. Sabina’s mom ran away in tears and neither the Swedish nor the Canadian faction seemed very impressed… I can just imagine what was going through their minds… “Poor Sabina…she isn’t even married this “Boer†yet and she’s already caught up with his manners …

Well, all’s well that ends well… De La Rey didn’t get a 9mm bullet through his head that night… the beating seemed to have cured his passion for solo hunting… and our overseas guests learnt a bit about doing things the South African way…

As planned… Sabina and I got married the following day… the young bushbuck is fine and should be another trophy in a couple of years… the (much more knowledgeable) overseas guests returned home… and… De La Rey…? Well – he is doing just great… in his transformation from a hunting dog into a sweet little lapdog… sticking to hunting butterflies with Walker the Jack Russel Terrier…as opposed to hunting leopard with me…

And so all two-and-four-legged members of Sabrisa Game Ranch are still living happily together…

Regards,

Chris Troskie
Tel. +27 82 859-0771
email. chris@ct-safaris.com
Sabrisa Ranch Ellisras RSA
www.ct-safaris.com
https://youtu.be/4usXceRdkH4

Pleasant tale for the morning coffee, thanks.

Thanks Chris, a great story for this morning.
Max

lekker storie Chris! Baie Dankie!

Nicely done Chris. I love stories with happy endings!

John

You are a lucky man.

Chris

Ahhh, nice story but, aren't you a bit worried what she might do to YOU should you accidently violate one of her rules ???????

Wonderful story Chris. I like stories that turn out for the best. Reminds me of a bird hunt that I took my soon to be wife on. Alls well that ends well.

Chris: You just have an innate talent at telling tales that really inspire the mind with the appropriate pics! Man I was worried for a minute there as you were headed to the gunsafe! Great story. Keep them up as usual.