20 February 2016, 03:57
RidgemanFive minute Hyena
Luckily I had been allocated the one Hyena tag available for the Munyamadzi AR group hunt in November and this was my prime species for this hunt. Apart from a futile attempt to sit over a Leopard bait many years ago in Zimbabwe during a disappointing hunt, I had never experienced the silent motionless concentration needed for this style of hunting.
GBE was somewhat disappointed that only the one tag was available but resigned himself to the pleasure of knowing I would likely spend many uncomfortable hours in the sticky heat of the tree blinds confines while hosting any amount of biting insects and perhaps a snake or two. Charming!
Luckily, Tom was called on to despatch the wounded, suffering Hippo very early in the hunt.
We scored some nice durable baits in the form of the hippo’s feet for our initial baiting.
Thor’s team wired the bait to a tree that had consistently produced results for both Leopard and Hyena over the seasons.
This was overlooked by a Machan approximately 50 or so metres away accessed by a very long extension ladder.
A trail cam was set up and we daily checked the site for activity. We were quickly getting callers but the cam was misbehaving a bit.
By day #4 we had good tracks and some nice pics of a Hyena.It was time to sweeten the offering and fortunately Tom was successful with his Hippo bull hunt. We were grateful for a number of chewy slabs of hide and a bucket or two of runny stuff to up the ante.
Day #5 and our first “sit” over the bait didn’t bring any results. It was a good opportunity for me to practice being quiet which some would say doesn’t come naturally to me! After a couple of hours with no visitors we radioed the camp and were collected. By law, we had to shoot during daylight hours so last light at dusk or first dawn light are the hunting opportunities.
Sign dropped off a little over the next couple of days – perhaps they had something else occupying their attention or it could have had something to do with all the Leopard attention our trail cam was recording.
Day #9 and we had at least one mature Hyena coming to the bait after the pair of Leopards left. By now I could smell the bait from some distance – no accounting for taste! Andrew felt the Hyenas were going straight to the river first for a daily drink before coming our way.
We entered the blind around 6.40. We got comfortable, positioned water bottles and adjusted the rifle port. Andrew checked our radio and head torches were working and I checked and rechecked my sight picture through the scope. Light fades fast this close to the equator but some minutes later Andrew whispered to me – “is that a Hyena sitting down just behind the tree?. Can you see it?”
My first thoughts were along the lines of Andrew having a laugh but he didn’t lower his binoculars and I realised he was serious.
Thor had been MOST insistent that we did not “accidentally” shoot one of his Leopards so we needed strong I.D. before going to the next step. I looked through my scope and in the fading light I could clearly see the distinctive shape of a nice Hyena.
Yes I replied – “I can see it”.
“Can you shoot it?” Andrew whispers.
Yes I replied and cocked the Blaser.
The flash and the noise of my shot momentarily erased our picture but as we both put our glass back on the spot we were pleased to note a shape lying on the ground in the same place. In the minute or less that had lapsed since Andrew first sighted the animal we had lost all light and we had to use our head lights to confirm our luck.
Mr Baldry reached for his radio and called Thor, who it turned out was still on his way back to camp after our drop off. Casually Andrew asked if he would kindly mind returning to collect us and replied to the affirmative that we had an animal down. Scratchy reception halted further dialogue. Apparently Thor was quite concerned that we had shot a leopard and was visibly relieved when the vehicles headlights swept over the inert form of a very nice Hyena.
We planned to spin a yarn about accidents with Leopards as we drove back to camp but the beaming smiles on our faces were hard to hide and everyone gathered around the vehicle to admire our luck.
Personally I was very surprised to note the pristine condition and size of the beast. Because he/she never actually got to the bait there was no nasty stink and apart from a few fighting scars around the neck the coat was spotless.
The celebrations in camp that night were substantial and I was christened camp “tin arse” for my luck.
Despite strong persuasion from Faisal and Andrew to have the trophy full body mounted I have decided to proceed with a head on floor rug presentation.
