I had made my reservation for my Namibian hunting trip for February with Vieranas Safaris. That is in middle of the rainy season and the start of the season, so very few hunters go this time of year because it is hard to hunt. Game have lots of water and fresh grass, this make their behaviour very unpredictable!

After three days of non-success on getting Kudu, Springbok or Oryx even though we tried all our tricks, we where exhausted both mentally and physically. We had tried stealth on Kudu that failed coz lack of wind, every time we were heard at least 60 meters away by the magnificent grey shadow of Africa.

And to my defence I must add that the ground is covered by sand/gravel mixed with small pebbles so it is indeed a challenging material to stalk in. We tried zigzagging for one hour towards a nice Springbok ram 120 meters over a grass plain at midday with the blazing Namibian sun hovering over us, laughing at our dehydrating efforts.

But the Springbok ram was saved by his fiance that cried out a warning signal and, pooft, they where gone. Leaving us overheated, thirsty and disappointed in the high grass.

We tried stealth and crawling for almost 30 minutes to get those last 15 meters that would get me in range to a beautiful Oryx bull that had a rest in the shadow of a big leadwood tree growing in the middle of a dried-out riverbed, guess what? The wind suddenly changed direction and Mr Oryx woke up from his nap pretty quick and left without saying goodbye, his nostrils filled by the smell of my hard work.

We even tried a full day at sitting in a blind (witch I dislike). We had nine Giraffe at the waterhole at the same time witch was a nice experience, a heard of Springbok was hesitating to come in like if there was something that spooked them, they hang around for almost an hour.

Finally we understood why the game avoided the blind as a beautiful Cheetah came in to drink just as the thunderstorm started and gave us 40 mm of rain so all thoughts of anymore blindsitting was over. It had also rained some days ago so the game wasn't in that a big a need of the waterhole.

Roger Coomber (my pro hunter) owner of Vieranas Safaris and me knew that we had to try something new as our hunting spirit thermometer was getting close too 36 degrees Fahrenheit (0 Celsius).
We had a brainstorming session with all kinds of ideas, some of them quite unorthodox. Finally we ended up with four alternatives.

No 1, Pygme/kalahristyle. Running after the Kudu until it was too tired to run anymore and then shoot it. Quite quickly we discarded the Pygmestyle as neither Roger or me are in the shape that would wear out a Kudu, it would probably end up with four Kudus looking at us while they laugh their horns off as the two mighty white hunters would most likely throw up this mornings cornflakes after running 500 meters in the Namibian morning heat.

Nr 2, the diesel stalk. Simply standing on the back of the Landcruiser and shoot. Diesel stalk, naeh. Couldn’t live with myself having a trophy mounted at my wall that was shot from a vehicle. (And Roger wouldn’t allow it)

Nr 3, bazooka hunt. Just crawl within 100 meters and then launch the projectile and voila! Three trophies at one shot. The bazooka hunt is a bit tempting? but since the odds are pretty big that the trophies would never ever be found and added the hard fact is that it is not the easiest thing in the world to find a bazooka a Thursday morning in Namibia. So that idea also goes to the waste bin.

Nr 4, Navy Seal style. This is something I read about in a book, written by Dr Adrian DeVilliers from South Africa. Jumping off the landrover as it was driving by game and hope that the game came close enough for a shot.

So now we are down to Navy Seal style. We decide to give it a try. Soon we see two Kudu bulls close to the road. Our first attempt ends up with me and Roger jumping off in such a good style that we could hold classes for the Green berets on how to do it.

But poor old Eagleyes (Rogers bushman super-tracker) falls off the landcruiser and lands flat on his belly on the gravel road with the most stupid look on his face. This immediately initiates a hysterical giggle-attack for both Roger and me, crouching behind a rock not more than 30 meters from a young Kudu bull.

When Eagleeye crawling joins us giggling by the rock, the Kudu decide he had enough of these strange animals rolling around the ground making strange noises.
 
Attempt nr two ends up with us crawling in a dried up riverbed after three Kudu bulls that are slowly grazing away from us in a very relaxed style. When our shoes and clothes are filled with sand 30 minutes later and we haven’t gotten any closer, we finally give up and decide to go back for lunch.

On the way back we find ourselves in the middle of a heard of springbok, the ram go one way and the rest the other way. Fast as lightning I grab my bow, jump off the car and runs beside it for a few meters and crouch close to a small bush.

The landcruiser continues and after one and half minutes the ram comes walking to rejoin the heard. I estimate him to pass by me at forty meters distance and come to full draw as the ram’s head is behind a small tree.

He stops and I initiate the release process. It feels like I am racing a turbocharged Kawasaki 1000 cc motorbike. Just as I release my arrow the ram look straight at me. The arrow flies perfectly towards my target, but when the arrow is halfway the ram must have pushed the button for nitro methane injection and turbo charge at the same time!

He jumps and manages to turn almost 180 degrees before the arrow struck him. And in less then half a second my so pleasant feeling is changed to the equivalent low of finding yourself riding that fine Kawasaki down the road only to find that the road in front of you is gone and replaced with a 20 yard deep black hole where the road is supposed to be!

The arrow hits the ram a bit too far back and he runs away grunting like a pig with his back high up in the air like a hissing cat. I suspect a gut hit. So I sit tight until the landcruiser returns.

We find dark blood on the ground but no green stuff on the arrow so we decide to go for lunch so we don’t spook the ram too soon. After lunch Piet (Eagleeye) pick up the trail and shows how tracking should be done every time, the slightest bit of evidence is enough for him to follow.

The blood trail is very poor and many times I doubt that he is on the right track, seeing things I don’t see. But every now and then he finds a speck of blood or a hoof print on the rock hard ground, points at it, smiles and gives me a reassuring thumbs up to slow down the emotional rollercoaster that he clearly could see going on inside me. I try to shut down my feelings and concentrate in aiding Piet in the tracking. After three kilometres he finds the ram that expired.

I take my hat off to Piet, his knowledge on tracking is amazing. I am considered to be good at tracking at home but my skills doesn’t even come close to be close to Piet`s knowledge. My respect for this humble and quiet old trackers skills is…indescribable!

Utterly relieved over finding the ram (that was hit in the gut) we decide to continue our quest for a Kudu or Oryx.
 
We spend the rest of the day (three hours) getting closer and closer to four monster kudu bulls.

They are spotted 500 meters away slowly grazing towards our kopje. At 180 meters they deviate towards another kopje to our left so we climb down and race over to the next kopje, settle down on a good ambush spot and the closest Kudu is ranged to 121 meters as they again deviate towards another kopje. Same story, sneak down, hurry to set up the next ambush and now we have all four bulls within 70-80 meters and they are truly magnificent, all of them over 50 inches, the biggest one probably close to 55 inches.

Again they deviate and we hurry to our next ambush point only to find them change direction but this time they will be channelled by natural hinders to a super spot for us. As we climb down I put my foot on a rock a bit careless and my knee gets twisted sideways as it is already damaged from a motocross accident some years ago. And that exact moment my Namibian hunt is over and the Kudu bulls merrily keeps on grazing, unaware of our intended ambush.

This days ups and downs really shows what bowhunting´s emotional rollercoaster sometimes is like. Today I have hysterically giggled like a school girl behind a rock. Felt like I´m falling down a big dark hole when my perfect shot failed and I wound a beautiful animal. The happiness when Piet find the springbok ram and the disseapointment when my knee is injured and I realise that this adventure is over for now.

But as Arnold says in the Terminator movie. I'LL BE BACK!!!