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Baboon


oowee
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Just back from a trip to South Africa wing shooting in Bloemfontein. 

A cracking ten days on the ducks, geese and Pigeons but also got the chance to stalk a baboon.

I have been trying to arrange this over the last couple of years but despite outfitters offering baboon shooting very few really want to stalk them. I had been offered the chance to shoot one from the buggy earlier in the week but turned the chance down to have a go on foot. My guide Conea had been brought up in the mountains close by and offered to take me. He has no love of the creatures as they have killed some of his dogs and are regular raiders of his farm. Following a lot of discussion over how best to do it we decided on an early morning raid. The trick being to get passed the patrolling baboons that guard the troop, without being spotted first.

Up at 0400 we headed to the mountains and climbed to the top of the ridge a distance of about 2 miles and a climb of about 200m just as the sun came up. Above the quarry we set out over the plateau to get to the ridge over the caves where  the baboons hang out. The climb was a complete b****** and our bag carrier Tarbu was feeling the pain :unhappy:. After two hours we approached the ridge and began glassing for guards. Nothing in sight we spotted the first of the troop on the valley floor below, heading our way with a booty of maize. Now the big question how to get off the top of the escarpment into a firing position. Deciding on a route we began the climb down a gully beside the cliff face, a route that should put us at the point where the baboons would begin the climb up to their caves. 

We were making good progress when a call went out below us.We had been spotted by an unseen pair of eyes on the rocks below. We quickly dropped down behind some rocks and started to look for the guard, still calling below. It took at least 10 minutes to see it sitting on a vantage point about 150 m to our right and 50 meters below us. I set up the rifle on the rocks and readied for the shot. As we were now hidden from the baboon it climbed up the cliff face to get a better view point of our location. It was now about 175m away but above us. I took the shot and heard the bullet strike home. The animal dropped to its knees and clung precariously to the cliff face. I hoped it would drop but it pulled itself to safety and disappeared. We waited 15 minutes to see if it would come out higher up and the started the climb over to it. It had dropped less than a metre from where it was shot. 

It took then the best part of an hour to climb down the rest of the cliffs to the track leading through the woods below. After half a mile we saw the first of the baboon troop coming the opposite way on the track. They saw us first and began to scream. Others came from all directions and were all around us in the woods screeching and challenging us. There was no clear shot as they ran from clearing to clearing. Tarbu carrying the body of the baboon we had shot seemed to be upsetting them even more than we were and he quickly caught up with us. Having seen many films where the man at the back of the line suddenly disappears I made sure to stay in the middle for the rest of the way.

It was a most exhausting but fantastic experience and one I plan to repeat.

Firing point

shooting_point.jpg

baboon.jpg

Edited by oowee
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On 15/05/2018 at 20:22, marmite said:

i was in Namibia in the 80 a mate of mine had to shoot a bab because of his swimming pool,baboons will kill to get to water so this had to go a big male took 3 of us to load him in the Buckie or truck fangs were 5-6 inch long scary beast

You must be puny blokes if it took three to get carcass into back of bakkie.

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