Big Game in South Africa
Submitted by: Mike Mistelske
I had originally planned a four week trip but had to cut it back to two, eliminating the PAC (Problem Animal Control) elephant that I had hoped to take in Zimbabwe. The South African portion of my trip—that which I did not have to put off ‘til later—was intended for hippo and darted rhino, and maybe for leopard if one just happened to be unusually cooperative.
Hippo: My hippo hunt was in farm country in the Limpopo province, where a few permits for problem animals were available. The number of hippo in the river system had reached a level at which the animals were causing enough crop damage to warrant limited hunting.
I had wished to catch a big bull on land early in the morning, as he returned from his nightly raid on the nearby corn fields. My hope was to get a close-range opportunity with my open-sighted .500 NE double. The hippo turned out to be unpredictable, moving up and down the complex river system each night, almost never feeding in the same place two nights in a row - and apparently very rarely being out of the river except during the very dead of night.
A very long and interesting day of stalking - wading in mud and water in the river’s bays and to and between the thickly vegetated islands, and pushing through 15-foot-high reeds - eventually led to a good shot at a herd bull. Although my PH and I were both very confident that the bull’s reaction to my shot indicated a proper brain shot, we had to wait until sunrise the next day for confirmation - for the bull to float to the surface.
The bull turned out to be a good one, very large and with all teeth in good condition. The bottom “tusks” each had over 12” of exposed length and apparently well over that below the gum line, and each was over 8” in circumference at the gum line. The water was cool enough that having to leave the bull overnight resulted in no meat spoilage. Many people would eat well for many days. I had two meals from the tenderloins, and the meat was very good!
Lion: Making friends with the farmers who would suffer at least a little less crop damage by my having removed one of the raiding hippos led to an unexpected bonus. As we all traded war stories and talked about the critters we had hunted - and those we had not yet hunted, we eventually came to discuss lion. To make a long story short, a nearby game farm of about 20,000 acres that specialized in breeding sable and roan - and lions - had a big problem: a large lioness was apparently somewhere she did not belong - where she could prey on the expensive antelope, and she was very aggressive toward humans. Happy day!
An invite was extended to me, and we delayed the rest of our trip by two days in hopes of finding the troublesome cat. We did not need two days! I couldn’t call it a hunt - unless one would refer to the lion’s hunting us, but it certainly was exciting. It boiled down to a quick shot through the chest with my .500, which turned the cat, and an immediate follow-up by my PH with his .416, which hit the chest within three inches of my bullet. Neither shot downed the cat, but at least it sprinted away into the brush. We were both confident of our shots, so my PH and I, and one of my new farmer friends - armed with my .458 Lott, immediately pursued. The cat was dead less than 100 yards into the bush. Very nice bonus!
We estimated the lion at just over 300 pounds - in great condition and good sized for a female. We never did measure her length, but it took four men to get her into the back of a Land Cruiser, and it looked like it was pretty full back there even after the men got out. Although I did spend several days and nights pursuing a leopard on this trip, the spotted cat once again eluded me; this lion more than made up for not getting a leopard!
Rhino: Except for having the property owner use his little gyrocopter to scout around and locate two of the ten or so rhino on his 50 square miles of virgin bush, my rhino “green” hunt (with a sedating dart) was very largely a real and satisfying hunt. Once the owner spotted our quarry and described the area in which we should conduct our ground search, the vet, one tracker and I were off on foot. We spent about an hour afoot before our initial sighting. We made a cautious stalk to within about 40 yards - just within range, but a sudden shift in the wind gave us away, and the rhino were gone before presenting a clear shot.
After circling downwind a considerable distance from where we last saw the rhino disappear into the bush, we once again sighted them. We dropped further downwind and positioned ourselves directly in the path of the rhino, which were walking and grazing slowly - conveniently heading downwind! We were able to sneak to a three-foot diameter tree about 100 yards ahead of the rhino. As we watched from behind the cover of our tree, the rhino would veer off, first to one side, then to the other - always moving more or less directly toward us.
Finally, with the rhino only about five yards from our hiding spot, we had no choice. A broadside impact in the flexible skin between head and shoulder is preferred; skin most anywhere else is marginally too tough and/or too thick to penetrate unless using the much stouter dart such as one might shoot from a helicopter flying just a few feet directly above a rhino’s rump. With our dart gun, it was also a necessity for the dart to impact the skin at very close to a 90 degree angle, to avoid deflection or bending of the needle. Shooting almost head-on, my target was the narrow leading edge of the flexible fold of neck skin just behind the rhino’s head. Simultaneously, I leaned out from behind the tree, the rhino stopped and looked directly at me, and I aimed and fired at the small target spot.
At my shot and as the dart impacted what looked like exactly the right spot, the two rhino bolted away, thank goodness. The rhino did not like the sting of the dart! In the next 20 minutes, the rhino - and we - covered several miles. Immediately after the first shot, we jogged as rapidly as we could, following the rhinos’ tracks. After three minutes, during which the sedating and tranquilizing drugs in the dart should have taken effect, we also called for the gyrocopter to return to take up the chase - and for a vehicle to meet us at a nearby track in case we didn’t very quickly catch the rhino.
It’s a good thing that we called for both the gyrocopter and the vehicle, since the dart had apparently somehow failed, and the rhino continued to run strongly. The vehicle carried us back and forth several miles, as the copter operator provided vectors to the fleeing rhino. Finally we were able to get in front of the beasts, vacate the vehicle, and proceed hurriedly on foot to where the tracker thought the rhino would pass.
Pass they did! I got one running broadside shot at 30 yards. I remembered to lead, since the dart’s “muzzle” velocity is only about 290 ft/sec. I didn’t lead enough to hit the neck, but I did hit, and, luckily, the dart penetrated the skin deeply enough for the drugs to be injected into muscle tissue. We followed quickly and found our rhino stopped about 200 yards away, starting to show effects of the drugs.
We watched the rhino go down on a nice flat piece of ground - with no danger that it would tumble into a ditch and come to rest in a position that would unduly stress any vital system. We immediately approached but had to run - alternately away from for our own safety, and then toward to try to chase away the second rhino. We needed to attend to its fallen comrade quickly, so we had to be quite aggressive. This got pretty exciting - only for a minute, but it was a very intense minute. These massive beasts can charge around very briskly, and it was difficult to convince the second rhino to vacate the area. I spent most of my time staying on the opposite side of a tree from the agitated rhino; allowing the younger, more agile guys to be heroes.
Once its companion was off at a safe distance, we immediately covered the eyes of the drugged rhino with a water-soaked towel, and we poured water over the rhino’s body to help keep it from overheating. The vet gave the rhino a good once-over for any wounds or signs of ill health, we took a few photos, I marveled at how I could wiggle the rhino’s long front horn back and forth on its forehead, and I noted that, in spite of the drugs, the rhino was very sensitive to even my lightest touch anywhere on its body. We noted that my first dart had failed to penetrate the skin, so its cargo of drugs had never made it to the circulatory system.
We moved all our gear about 40 yards off into the brush, and the vet prepared the antidote to the tranquilizing and sedating drugs that the second dart had injected. I thought that it was a rather nice touch that the vet had me inject the antidote. As soon as I had injected the antidote, we quickly withdrew to the area where we had stashed all our gear. Within about 20 seconds, the rhino got to its feet, and in less than a minute it charged off - presumably to find, or to soon be joined by, its companion. With a white rhino, there’s not much danger that the revived beast would actually make a deliberate charge at anyone, but it would not be good to be in its path during its initial, somewhat blurry-headed, dash.
Overall: Although not perfect, my trip was very good: I was privileged to see a brown hyena several times (at the bait where my leopard should have been). I had a bit of excitement with the one member of the “big five” that I thought was the least likely for me to ever have opportunity to deal with (the cost of lions is getting astronomical). I made a good shot on what my PH said was the biggest of the 40 or so hippo he’d seen taken. My rhino hunt truly was exciting. I got to shoot my .500 double “for real” - and made good shots on both of the two critters I pointed it at (the lion and one bait impala). I finally timed my visit such that I got to see the adult Mopane moths (which I’m told live only one day - just long enough to mate and lay eggs). I made new friends, had fabulous seafood (twice) in JB, and managed not to injure myself. Overall, life is very good!
Next Stop: Elephant!
M.J.Mistelske