On the 11th, I began my elephant hunt.
Our reconnaissance included riding the
village paths (roads), stopping to talk
with many villagers who had witnessed
elephant activity and destruction, and
hiking with the black trackers. Since I
had a PAC (Problem Animal Control)
Permit, our objective was to remove one
of the nuisance elephants that was rampaging the village. At every stop, more
men and boys wanted to join the hunt
as scouts.
nearby cow mock charged, back up
two steps then came at a full charge. I
heard a gun fire as the cow broke small
trees within 10 yards. I remained at full
draw, waiting for the command to shoot.
Previously, my PH had told me to wait
until told to shoot; I followed orders. She
fell 2 steps from me. The herd exploded
and left the area with a cloud of dust
filling the air.
Upon inspection, we observed two bullet holes in her brain. It had happened
so quickly that we remained in shock for
days. Immediately, I cried and thanked
God for supplying us protection. Within
minutes, there were villagers with knives
and bags coming to claim their share
of the meat. We witnessed them singing, “Lord Thank You for the Meat.” We
returned to base camp for lunch and
plan B.
When we returned after lunch, the village scouts reported another elephant
incident where women who were washing clothes were chased by three big elephants. We drove near then approached
on foot. I had an arrow boy because
my quiver was accidently left at the SA
camp. We got to within 22 yards, but
the trees were too thick to get an arrow
through. Three attempts before camera
light expired yielded no shot opportuni- I finally knew the outcome of the recurring dream (vision). For the first time, I
ties.
Early on Sept 12th, we began our reconnaissance again, this time sending scouts
out with radios. About 10am, we got a
very excited call that a herd of elephants
had been spotted. We drove to them
and found that one of the men had lost
his shoes when the elephants trumpeted
and chased them. We moved in closer
by vehicle and then with three trackers, 2 PHs, 2 cameramen and me, we
stealthily approached paying attention
to not make noise and watch the wind
using Woods Wise wind checker powder. Slowly and methodically we moved
closer. Following the tracks and noise of
breaking trees, we knew the herd was
feeding.
We got close enough to see feeding and
bedding elephants. With a huge lying,
sleeping bull about 15 yards away, upon
instruction from Tienie, I drew on a bull
feeding at 25 yards. About the time my
bow reached full draw, I felt the wind
change directions and hit the back of
my neck. The bull whirled facing us and
mock charged, stopping at 20 yards. A
22 | BLAZE | WINTER 2013
for us to run if we hoped to catch up with
the bull any time soon. This pushed me
to my limits.
But eventually, I caught up with Tienie
and Tuckie. We moved in for the shot
putting away thoughts of the previous
elephant charg H