World Hunter
| This is me receiving my "knighthood" into the German hunting society. It was a great honor as the shooting test (with shotgun, then rifle of 100 meters) was brutal but the 4 hr written examination was the toughest test I have ever taken. Of course, the Jagerbrief (German hunting license) is recognized worldwide and to own a rifle/shotgun/pistol in Germany one must have this license. Only hunters/sportsmen who have this coveted license are authorized to carry revolvers and/or pistols. Tough course! |
 | Here is Patty and I with a warthog I shot from 110 meters. The dog, Dusty, is one of two Alex Kirkman of Mopani Safaris, Kadoma, Zimbabwe owns. I shot this warthog just before we spotted the Eland that I shot in the next picture. Warthog's tusks were 11 inches and are hanging on my wall in my hunter's room. Terrible meat to eat but lions, leopards & Cheetahs love them. |
 | This is the Eland I shot. HUGE CREATURE! It is a Livingstone Eland and ranks as the 30th biggest ever shot. Weight 1,500 plus pounds. Horns were 40 inches plus. Height at his shoulders were 72 inches! He was so big that even after the blacks had gutted him, we had to cut him into two pieces to get him into the Landowner. Even then it took the two blacks, Alex and myself, over 20 minutes to do that. It was a wild hunt. I shot him in the heart, he fell, got up & ran! See page on the wild ride we had through the bush. Never have done anything quite like that before. |
 | This picture was taken at Wolfgang Schenk's Taxidermy. Wolfgang Schenk is world renown for his work. Does it for individuals, museums, etc. The two individuals are German friends, both doctors who are heart surgeons and two of the best in all Europe. They are loading a Cape Buffalo that one of them shot in South Africa while on safari. |
 | Other picture of two of my German hunters friends with a Cape Buffalo they took in South Africa. Both are good men and great surgeons. |
 | This is a picture of an Impala running through the bush. Was going to shoot him as Impala meat is great. Patty would fight you over Impala mean; but as you can see he was too quick. Impala are hard to hunt as they have very good hearing & sight & sense of smell. As usual, all animals in Africa blend in with their environment which just adds to the thrill and excitement of a safari. But one has to be on guard at all times due the Lions and Leopards. |
| This gives yo some idea of how hard it is to hunt in Africa. Zimbabwe is a lot like West Texas but what HUGE thorns EVERYWHERE. I was always cut & bleeding everyday because once spotted you had to track them through the bush. Tough hunting to say the least. These two zebras give you some idea of how well the animals blend into their environment. We saw bull Elephant droppings here also and left the area quickly as bull Elephants are very mean & unpredictable. |
| I asked Richard for some photos of his hunting with some explanation. Below here is the letter Richard sent to me at my request. --- Lee |
|
Lee, as I know you don't hunt / competition shooting / skeet or trap shooting / collect / etc., I will explain the German hunting system. It is a one year program after you have passed the shotgun shooting test, the rifle shooting test, and the 4 hour written test. For the Germans it is a one year 3 nights a week - 4 hr class each night - and costs 10,000 DM and/or $5,000 USD. But your are trained to the max. You have to know everything about every animal in Germany you can hunt. It is a very brutal detailed book (697 pages that one has to read) That one has to study to pass the written test. The written 400 question test is broken down into 5 parts and you "can not miss" over 4 questions from each subset of 80 questions per the 5 parts/sections. If you do you fail and can only retake the test one more time. If you fail that then you have to start "all" over again. Failure rate is about 15%. NOTHING in college, Air Force or graduate school was ever as tough or demanding as the German hunting course, and as one who graduated cum laude w/2 bachelor's degrees w/3 majors in 3 1/2 years while working full time for General Motors I am no dumbbell by any stretch of one's imagination. I originally took the course in 1986 and passed it but lost my certificate doing all my many moves. My current one is framed, copies in my vault, and copies in my office. This is one piece of paper that I will not ever lose again. But like I said one you have this certificate it is recognized around the world and you can hunt anywhere. Plus if you have this certificate then you can own and carry a firearm. Only hunters in Europe are authorized to do so. Just so you know women can not own guns in Europe unless they have the German hunting license. And when their husbands die, the women have three years to sell all his weapons or the government comes in and take them. Very interesting philosophy the Europeans have about women & firearms. |
|
Livingstone Eland hunt. 25-Sept-99 Kadoma, Zimbabwe with Alex Kirkman, owner of Mopari Safaris. 1,500 pounds, 40" plus horns. |
|
We had left the lodge at the usual time (0630) and had been driving around in the Landrover. We had seen wildebeest, zebras, kudo, waterbuck, bushback, tracks of leopard, warthogs, but we're hunting for Eland. About 1000 we stopped for coffee and a little to eat. Patty, Alex and I were talking when out of the blue two huge Elands were walking about 150 meters from us. We all jumped in the Landrover and the two trackers and I took off at 40 mph through the bush with all its "thorns" & huge 1-2 inch thorns everywhere. The Elands - even though they are bigger than a bull moose - can run at a very fast trot and are superb jumpers. Can jump over 8 feet! Powerful animals that if cornered will attach and take no prisoners. We got to within 60 meters of them and Alex is screaming at me to take the shot. Needless to say it was kind of hard to do at 40 mph in a open Landrover over bumpy ground with thorns hitting your legs, arms & face. Somehow I finally got a clear shot & took it. The bigger Eland sat down, then got up & took off running. I was dumbfounded as it was a clean heart shot but you have to remember these are African animals that are tough, mean and big! Off we go after him through the bush at 40 mph! About 10 minutes later we get to a clearing and I shoot him again and he goes down. I jump out of the Landrover, reload my rifle and get to within 10 meters of him with my rifle pointed at him all times. I stop to make sure he is dead when he starts to get up! I run, put the rifle to his ear and shoot. He dies immediately. Patty the whole time was on the floor of the Landrover while we were chasing the Eland. Everyone was shaking after that ride, even the trackers! Even Alex said "it was the wildest ride he had ever done in 10 years of operating safari". I have to admit it was the wildest ride I have ever had too. After we took pictures and cleaned the animal, it started to rain and I mean rain. It rained buckets of bater for 30 minutes straight and then quit. We were all soaked to the bone but what a way to end a day of Eland hunting. On the way back to the lodge I got a warthog that you have a picture of. We also saw a black mambo snake that was almost 8 feet long. Needless to say we killed it with the shotgun and that was the first and only snake we ever saw in Africa. It was one hell of a day and at dinner that night the other hunters - two English men & two Danes - told Patty & I what they had taken. It was a good time had by all. You will notice in the picture of me with the Eland the sky behind me. It is starting to get dark & "down it rained". This year I will be going back to Kadoma, Zimbabwe to hunt with Alex Krikman, Mopani Safaris, again. This time I will be joined with Colonel Fred Nolan, Lt. Col. Bill Buklar and Staff Sargent Rick Barth (US Army) while Fred and Bill are Air Force. We will be hunting for Leopard, Sable, Eland, Waterbuck, Kudo, Wildebeest, Warthogs, ducks/gueiena hens, etc. This will be a 10 day hunt and as we will be in lion/lepoard country it would be interesting to say the least. The guys I am going with are all great guys, Fred is the head dentist here a Ramstein Air Base & Bill is the head children dentist at Sembach Air Base. Rick is the medical specialist for the US Army at Landstudht Medical Center - 10 miles from Ramstein Air Base - and trains National Guard & reservists. Fred is a licensed guide for the State of Alaska - takes one 5 years to become a certified guide! Bill & Rick are world class hunters having hunted all through N&S America, Europe, Russia, and Africa. Good group to go on a safari with so all are easy going and Professionals. |
Return to "Our Family Web Pages"