My firstgemsbuck
Working hard for a trophy makes the hunt much more satisfying.
We travelled all the way to Cradock, walked and stalked our game for hours, and experienced the type of hunting that one can only dream of.
I was born and grew up in the Eastern Cape. I left my hometown of King Williams Town in 2000, and have been living in Cape Town for the past 16 years. My first interaction with guns was when I was 14 years old – my uncle allowed me to shoot a jackal that was caught in a poacher’s snare on his farm. Today I own a number of firearms and I am a proud member of the South African Hunters and Game Conservation Association (SAHGCA) and the Durbanville Shooting Club. This is where I met David Swartz, a passionate hunter who loves venison. David and I have been on at least three hunting expeditions before embarking on the one I write about in this story and of all our hunts together this one was the most exciting.
THE PLANNING
Unlike with our previous hunting trips, planning for this trip did not start a year earlier, instead about three months before the 2016 hunting season opened I spoke to David at the shooting range one Saturday morning. He told me about a hunting outfitter in Cradock he wanted us to try out. Luckily I haven’t had any other hunts booked for the season. In fact I wasn’t even sure I wanted to hunt in 2016. Nonetheless I was able to convince management that we need to put meat in the freezer, the reserves were so low that I was even contemplating becoming a vegetarian. As luck would have it, after an overseas holiday with my wife, we returned to South Africa with some foreign currency and yes, I put the money to good use, everyone was happy in the end, especially me.