Fishing for Bushbuck

BACK IN THE days when it didn’t cost an arm and a leg to keep a rifle well fed with ammunition, my wife and I owned a shop in Port Alfred, initially selling fish tackle, la arms and ammo as well. One day a fellow walked into the shop and intro ed himself as Doug. We had a long chat about fishing and, eventually, hunting. Doug owned a 2 000 hectare cattle farm on the left bank of the Kariega River, some 25km from Port Alfred. The farm was also prime bushbuck country. Doug didn’t hunt but, as he and his young family liked venison and biltong, he held one or two hunts a year to which he invited some of the “tie the dogs loose” gentlemen of the district. These disruptive affairs never sat well with him. When I told him I didn’t fancy them either, he asked if I would do the hunting and we’d share the venison. I readily accepted. Thus began a friendship lasting to this day.

Over the years I shot many bushbuck on Doug’s farm. In fact, most of