A Prickly Situation
We set out at 3pm to look for eland. The sun was beating down and it was very hot. In spite of that we saw some game movement. We saw many giraffes (hard to miss their heads sticking out above the trees),, as well as a number of gemsbok, kudu, waterbuck, and ostrich here and there. But no eland.
We decided to drive to a high spot in the mountains and spend some time glassing the plains. If we spot some eland, we can make a plan to get close. After an hour of searching we did find a number of them but they were all big bulls, not the old female we were looking for. As the evening wore on, Johann made a decision to pursue one of the groups of gemsbok we had seen. We drove down off the mountain and set off on foot in the general direction where we’d last seen them.
I was busy taking video as we made our way through the thorn brush. As always, Johann led the group followed by Eric and then me and finally Mateus. As we approached an open area near a waterhole, Mateus indicated that he saw a gemsbok to our left. We changed course and made our way slowly that way. As we got near, Johann looked through his binos and said “old, old bull” just what we wanted.
We maneuvered into position about 125 yards away and watched. At the appropriate time, Johann moved to his left and set up the sticks. Eric and I moved there as well, Eric with the rifle and me with the Iphone. Eric took careful aim and at the shot, the gemsbok went down.
All of us had seen this before… when a gemsbok goes down like that, there is always a chance he’ll get back up. It happens quite often. Johann said “Be ready, we’ll go closer.” I was pacing the distance as we walked and when we reached about 50 paces, Johann set up the sticks and said “Shoot again.” Eric did and we moved closer but as we neared, the gemsbok rolled and began to stand. Johann said “Shoot again.” Eric did but the gemsbok remained standing and started to walk. At this point, there were no more cartridges in he rifle. Fortunately, I had six in an ammo pouch on my belt. I grabbed one and handed it to him. Then another, and another as the gemsbok picked up speed and raced into a dense thicket teeming with prickly pear bushes. The feature picture and a few below are screen shots from video.)
Wounded gemsbok are known to head for thick cover and lay in wait for anything that follows them. They basically back themselves into the brush and, if followed, they charge out head down. A 450 lb animal armed with 3 ft long daggers on its head is an imposing adversary so we approached with great caution. We had little doubt that the gemsbok would be waiting and it was only Johann’s keen eyesight that spotted the tips of two horns standing above the prickly pears only 20 yards in front of us. I think Eric was ready to guess where the body was and send a round through the foliage but Johann motioned that we would circle around. As we circled, we momentarily lost sight of the horns but as we neared to 10 yards we saw the horns and then the head. It was over.
The tension eased instantly but then our thinking tuned toward recovery. Prickly pear is a plant that has long thorns but those aren’t the real problem. They also have many smaller knots on the fleshy part of the plant that host a bunch of tiny thorns.. When you brush against them, they stick in you and must be removed with tweezers.
Mateus brought the truck around and backed as close as he could get. We used a machete to cut a narrow pathway in to attach a winch cable from the truck and pulled it straight into the bed. It worked out pretty well though all of us are a little cut up from thorns and feeling a little itchy. But we have bait and will be out in the morning to reestablish the sites.
FYI, My brother would point out that we found evidence of five hits. I’ll tell you that one was in a horn, one creased the brisket (a heavy thorn could have done as much damage), one was… but the head shot under pressure was spot on.
JC