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Taxidermy - Larry Reese
At dinner the previous night Du Toit and I decided we would go into the bush very early and try and get the Zebra which had to go this day to allow the smaller group of bachelor stallions to sort out who was going to take over the heard. Once that was sorted out Rick was going to hunt a stallion out of the bachelor heard which numbered about 7 stallions We creped through the bush an finally found the Zebra, the problem was once again we had the Waterbuck between us. The big stallion was prancing back an forth keeping his ladies in a tight group to only move them off to thicker brush where we had no sight of them. After a few failed stalks we headed back to the lodge to meet the others and have breakfast. On the walk back Du Toit an I talked an I decided to let Cody try an take his first African animal so the pecking order can take place before Rick hunts the bachelor heard at the end of his hunt. After a fine breakfast prepared by Louisa Du Toit daughter I told Cody what the game plan was an that this was a special Zebra that I had my eye on for years, he was pretty excited. We drove around trying to locate where the heard at settle in on Du Toit's farm. After a time we had located them running around with a heard of Blue Wildebeest. Blue Wildebeest are very spooky an every time we tried to get Cody close they would see us and take off with the Zebra in tow. Once we were 300 yards according to my Nikon Rangefinder we had the big stallion broadside, we prepared Cody for the longest shot of his young life (he is only 13). He prepared for the shot an pulled the trigger, he had shot over the Zebra and they all took off on a dead run. Du Toit got us all back into the truck an ran us to the other end of his farm figuring they might go back into the thick bush. He dropped Cody an I off told us to make our way up to some bushes he said if they are going to come they will come through that area. I could see the fields an bush over a small hill we had hid behind for cover, finally I could see the Zebra coming. I was looking at the heard througn my Nikon Binoculars to pick out the stallions location which is not easy with all of those black and white stripes. A little note here, there are four different kinds of Zebra, the Burchell which is the most common, Hartmann, Mountain, and Grevy. Also the stripes are like finger prints no two animals are exactly the same. I spotted the stallion not only was he the largest but I had picked out some markings on him that I could recognize. he was number three in line as they had started to form a single file to go down the trail. I set up the shooting sticks for Cody and told him when the third Zebra was in view place the cross hairs right behind his leg and gently squeeze the trigger. The first two Burchell's Zebra appeared and walked down the trail in and out of the brush. When the big stallion appeared he must of sensed something or heard Cody's heart pounding out of his chest an he stopped behind some brush and looked in our direction. I asked Cody if he had a shot knowing these Zebra are not ones to stand around long an he replied "No Dad there is brush in the way". I told him to just be quite and keep the gun trained on him an as soon as he stepped away from the bush fire, my Nikon rangefinder said 120 yards. It seemed like a stand off the stallion knew something was not quite right as he kept an eye on our location as the other Zebra slipped by him. Finally he turned his head an started to walk toward his mares. The shot rang out an startled me for a second and I saw the Zebra drop in a cloud of dust. I told Cody to reload and train the gun on the struggling Zebra in case he got up to run. After a few seconds all was quite except the pounding of Cody's heart. He had taken his first African animal and it was a true trophy, his big smile and hugs were just priceless an something I will never forget.
Du Toit also runs a full time butchery at his farm where he takes care of his hunters animals as well as other outfitters in the area. He said in over 10 years of keeping records Cody has the biggest Zebra, it weighed 217 Kilo's ( which is about 417 pounds) an that was after it was gutted, head ,legs an skin removed which I figured was an easy 150+ pounds. A late morning gave Kathy some time to relax at the Lodge while Rick her husband was with us hunting the Zebra. After a quick breakfast Kathy was headed to a neighboring farm to look for Kudu while Cody, Louie (Du Toit's son) an I go set up a Double Bull blind at the water to try for warthog on the same farm. On the way to the waterhole where the rancher said he had seen some warthogs in the past there was an owl in a tree next to the road so we stopped to look more closely. While we were looking at the owl there in the road ahead of us running around were some ground squirrels much like our prairie dogs. Louie said to me "you think you can hit one with your bow". I am not one to turn down a challenge so from the back of the truck I knocked a field tip and used my Nikon Monarch 800 Rangefinder to get the correct range of the ground squirrel, who was at 25 yards. I settled my sights on his head and released my Easton ACC arrow to pin the little varmint to the ground, right through the head! The ground squirrel was taken back to the Lodge where one of the workers was happy to get a nice meat dinner. The joke was Louie was telling everyone about my head shot ground squirrel an my reply was an I think he will make Pope and Young or I would not have shot. At the waterhole there was no activity except for these african pheasant that stayed out about 60 yards feeding in the grass, an yes I tried to shoot one of them out of the blind but I think the pheasant must have jumped the string on me (smile) Kathy an crew looked until dark an did not locate the Kudu's but tomorrow is another day. Larry C. Reese - Wildlife Artistry Taxidermy
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