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Hunting What does it mean to be a hunter? To me, a hunter is someone who is primarily a conservationist. A true hunter would only harvest what he needs and will protect wildlife with every means at his disposal. The skill of hunting is one of the oldest forms of recreation and a means of survival known to man. You know what makes me mad? There are many so-called "hunters", people with lots of money who only kill animals for their skins and horns and who doesn't use the meat at all... To me they are nothing more than ruthless killers and rapists of our wildlife. Don't get me wrong, a nice trophy on the wall is a beautiful reminder of a successful hunt, but, when asked, the true hunter could tell you how he successfully stalked the animal on his own after tracking it, and how much he and his family enjoyed the meat. I mean, why else would you want to kill such a magnificent animal? Can you imagine walking with a rifle in dense "Bush veld" listening to all the different birds looking for that one clear shot, and to have that fresh liver in a pot around a campfire that night. Thinking what it was like to suddenly see a Kudu about 50 meters away. What a magnificent specimen, with it's spiral horns, and distinctive markings! The adrenaline started to rush through your veins as you began to stalk your prey. It was completely unaware of your presence, busy browzing the leaves of a tree. You inched yourself forward. It seemed to you that your footsteps were like that of a herd of Elephant. The wind was blowing in your face, perfect... Slowly you raised your rifle, pushing aside a few leaves still obscuring your view. You looked through your scope and started to shake a little of eagerness, "what if I miss?", "is it really worth killing such a magnificent animal?"... The blood started pounding in your head, "steady now, aim for the vital heart and lung area", slowly you pressed the trigger. With a jerk the rifle kicked back so suddenly you almost caught a fright. You saw the big animal started to move, the same time you heard the thud of the bullet striking home. The Kudu jumped forward and disappeared from sight. You felt sad of what you did, and walked to where the Kudu was standing only a few seconds ago. There was blood on the ground and you knew that is was a good shot because you heard the Kudu kicking in the grass a few meters away, out of sight. You were scared to go there, because you knew it was dying and there was nothing you could do about it. Everything was quiet then, not even a bird was singing as you gazed upon the dead Kudu at your feet... You admired its beautiful horns and striped skin, then the birds started singing again and the veldt was coming back to live... That is what hunting is all about, for that few seconds, it was just you, the God Almighty, and what he gave us, to use on this earth... |