My true outdoor stories out of Africa....

[unseenone]

I will donate a portion from the sale of our new "Rhino" hitches to the cause. Please advise the best trustee for this.

[Observe]

WOW UNSEENONE,THAT'S TOTALLY UNEXPECTED!
I will contact them and bring the two of you together, those Rhino anti-poaching/conservation guys put their lives daily on the line in the bush to protect the rhino's and need all the help they can get.
I really , really appreciate this!
Thank-you!

[unseenone]

There is a pretty good documentary / movie you might want to try and see. I know often nobody in Africa sees the many films made there.. It is worth checking out, also they are trying to raise awareness and money. This touches on a number of issues in Africa and well worth your time. Some of this may possibly change or improve your views on a number of African issues.

http://www.virungamovie.com/

http://www.netflix.com/title/80009431

If you have access to Netflix or other, you might look at this guy as well..

http://machinegunpreacher.org/

U toob

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAEYNBOKsrg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_wWA2WaQyo

If you are interested, you can check out this project I'm working on. Help is always welcome.

[W.Lynn]

I saw good documentaries about poaching for ivory on Netflix also, with amazing photos and film of how big elephant's tusks used to get, when they lived so much longer.

Same far-eastern people involved at the money end.

[Observe]

unseenone, I've checked the project out and are impressed!
Having until recently nearly 20 years of experience in the practical feet on the ground daily welfare of underprivileged multi-cultural children , [not from an a/c office] we maybe have a lot in common on various levels on this topic...?

[Observe]

W,Lynn, & unseenone and other guys----

Most of the time the best way to help these real anti-poaching /nature conservation guys is to have a knowledgeable contact on the ground that know the specific terrain, equipment and resources needs of the guys, rather than sometimes pour well intended money down a bottomless pit that rarely reaches the 'foot soldiers' daily on the poaching front-line in the bush...

I would seriously like to discuss or exchange ideas on this topic/idea with anyone with a love and care for nature,or who can maybe help with contacts etc....

[Observe]

Mods, I'm sorry to maybe overstepped your boundaries by mentioning these things that doesn't have much to do with the tread heading..

Would you rather we take this topic/conversation to a different thread..?
[please advice]

have a nice day you\all

[AmericanBTGoG]

No such thing (well...almost) as off-topic in the asylum we call home. No worries.

[unseenone]

This is your Topic-- If you want to discuss it here it is ok, or perhaps start an Animal Conservation topic..

As you mentioned, getting funds on the ground in the hands of the folks that need it is the problem. Anywhere else, it seems like it doesn't make it to where it is needed most. On the other hand, if these issues are not recognized by those at higher levels the issues would probably still be largely unknown. I prefer the hands on approach as much as possible. Cutting out the middleman and recognizing what is needed works the best.

I can tell you, there are Americans who would pay for an opportunity to help on the ground, so eco-tourism / anti poacher volunteers could be a good revenue source. For that sort of scenario to work it needs to be outside of areas prone to the typical Geo-politcal issues of the day. One of AA's friends goes to Africa a lot to train guys like you picture above I believe.

[Tex]

Go ahead and start a discussion about the needs of the game keepers, Observe. This is your topic and the protection of these animals is very important. Hopefully some good can come from this.



Tex

[Observe]

new discussion on this topic started under the tread 'Donations' named
'Anti-poaching and Rhino rehabilitation'

Go have a look please and see if you can get somehow involved in the cause...

[unseenone]

I would think, you should build up some awareness on the subject on the new thread, and perhaps repost, or add to the initial post some of the information, stories, pictures, etc. to create a seamless presentation and awareness. You might also consider watermarking your original pictures so as they float around on the internet, please know where to go...

[Observe]

Here is another true story from a different time,culture and country that some of you here will probably have some difficulty to relate to....
The joke was on me , the School Principal at that time of a beautiful rural welfare school...

My Welfare Warthog that 'attacked' me and consequently shot with a .38 Special Derringer….

This is probably the only such a warthog story in the whole wide world...lol!

It will also maybe also NOT be the type of story that you have anticipated, but it's still all true!



The short, condensed, bare minimum story behind the story of these photos is as follows.......
I shot this warthog [unbeknown to me at that time] just a nearly miss above the left eye with my trusted 30-06. It dropped like a brick and as it lies dead still, I again assumed that it was already dead! I put my rifle back in its bag, left it in the Jeep and went into the bush to pull the ‘dead’ warthog to a clearing so that I can load it onto the back of the Jeep with a home-made pulley system…



The warthog was meant to feed about 60 x small unprivileged kids and staff for a week at 2 x welfare hostels attached to a very remote school where I was the School principal at that time.



The two hostels are behind the trees as seen from the tennis court...



I’ve got the cooperation and goodwill of a couple of game farm owners near the school, who gave me full permission as well as copies of the different game farm's keys for this purpose of donating warthog meat to the children…..



I was as usual still in my suit, as I've just quickly slipped out of school for a short time to get some 'proviant' that were low in the hostel that week.
[The staff was well versed in telling the school inspector that I was just quickly on a fund raising project, if he unexpectedly pitched up at school while I’m not there...]
The government of the day has in their wisdom decided to cut all our financial and state subsidies for welfare children, as the money could be better utilized for tenders to build new roads in that deep rural area, but it never happened. Well I can tell you a lot about these road tenders and ensuing rackets...
Anyway, as I’ve done it many times before, I did not even removed my suit jacket for the shot, as I would go directly back to school and be in time for my next class—
[Those were the days my friend...to be able to quickly get into the Jeep in my free periods to get a warthog for meat and be back in time for my next class--eish man!]
Anyway as I reached this 'dead' warthog and start fastening a rope around its muzzle behind the tusks to pull it out to a nearby clearing, it suddenly came 'alive' in my hands and jumped up! I instinctively jumped out of the way and trip backwards into a +_ 3-4 ft. high dense white long thorn bush [acacia].....
Now, just imagine for a moment this picture in your minds eye..., here I lay helpless half in the air with thorns in my back and legs and observe this warthog 'coming for me'! The more I struggled to get my .38 Derringer out of the ankle holster, the deeper I went down in the thorns!



To my surprise the warthog turned to his left when he reached the bush and my shoes and start to walk in a circle round and round
[I think the 30-06 [220 gr ] had shocked something loose in his head somewhere, and that some of his h neuro- functions was all messed-up]
Well, I still wanted to get out of the thorns and back to school...



Eventually, by bending my knee onto my chest, I got hold the small .38 Derringer in my ankle holster, and aimed between my shoes at the warty as I lay on my back in the thorn bush! As it turned for another circle and was facing me, I let fly and hit it a little off center to the left of its chest. I must stress here in my own defense here that the adrenalin was pumping, the thorns was hurting, I didn’t know what the devil was going on with this warthog walking in circles with a mean look in his eyes, and that the 1 inch barrel of that small hide away Derringer was not built for accuracy or hunting warthogs in the first place….

Anyway, it seemed as if the first shot had absolutely no effect on it at all, and it just turned for another circle.
The second time I hit it with my last shot in the forehead just a short distance from the soles of my shoes, and again it went down, but kicking its legs as if it tried to get up again!

Ignoring the pain and thorns in my back, and ripping and ruining my suit jacket, I scrambled out of the thorn bush and ran to the Jeep to arm myself again, as I am now out of .38 bullets. [The Derringer is only a 2-shot]. As I do not want to waste time by getting the gun out of the bag and reloading it, the first thing that I saw on the back of the jeep was this short camp axe. I grabbed it and ran back to secure the next couple of days meat. The warty was still down on its side, but frantically milling with its legs trying to get up again, so I let him have it between the ears with the back of the ax.

Well, I made it back to the hostel in time to continue my next class [minus the jacket] as if nothing has happened, while the hostel staff starts processing the meat. My wife was the only one who knew at the time of this escapade, as my suit was ruined and had to be replaced.



Now, that's why I've got myself this big cold steel boar spear, as I've got far more trust in it than my hide away .38 Derringer!
The things that we've done when we were younger, hey?



If I look today at some of the stinking rich kids from a different culture and country far away that I now have in-front of me at school, I wonder if today's younger generation will ever understand or even comprehend where we came from in life...?

Their biggest concern now seems to revolve only around the latest electronic devices, and some of the cool bigger boys try to be mucho show-offs whose only bragging rights is using daddy’s money and see whom they can impress with their latest model mustangs and corvettes...
I feel sometimes sad for them in a sense, as money can never buy these real life experiences that we’ve had, and I then wish I could give some of them a character building warthog to hunt the hard way!

Well, I know that times have changed, and that we will have to make peace with it, but still....! [lol]

[Tex]

Observe, I have always enjoyed your stories. One thing I notice is that you choose to pursue warthog quite a bit. Is this because of a high chance for a successful hunt? Is there are large population of warthog in your area? Roughly how much meat can you recover from one animal? Is the meat comparable to a normal hog? How do people over there like too prepare it?

I apologize for all of the questions. Just trying to learn something.



Tex

[Observe]

Thanks Tex,glad you like my ramblings...

There are lots of other animals as well, and I've hunted most of them, but my personal soft spot is for warthog which I've started hunting at about the age of 10.
Warthog got beautiful 'red' meat and not 'white' meat like a pig.
It can be roasted,cooked or dried as 'biltong' [jerky]

about 40-60 kg skinned i would say

yes some areas has a lot of them,and depending on how you hunt them ,the success rate would vary [scoped rifle 250-300 m away, bow about 30 m away or spear about 3-8 m away...]

In later follow-up stories warthog will figure as well! lol!

I just LOVE warthogs!! lol