Preparation and planning are the key to success
- Bob Hanna: Someday
- July 27, 2019
- 1314
Hey everyone.
Well, if everyone is tired of all the rain and flooding, imagine how all of the animals feel. Even though, food source wise, it might be a better alternative than a drought, the destruction of habitat and fast-moving water have made it quite dangerous for humans and animals. I just looked out my window and saw a groundhog emerge from his den with his life vest on.
So let’s do a recap so far for 2019. In February Taryn and I attended the Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. In March we were privileged to represent Millersburg Tire at the Hercules-sponsored vacation to Playa del Carmen, Mexico. In May we attended our youngest daughter’s wedding in Tennessee. In June we spent a week with our oldest daughter and her family at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida.
And if that isn’t enough, with the help of my brother and nephews, we happened to fight one of the rainiest springs on record to harvest our first cutting hay crop. Yes, I still work at Millersburg Tire full-time as well.
So onward we go. Most of our trips, both hunting and otherwise, generally take a lot of planning and preparation. Back in April I started to talk about us going back to Africa. Anytime you involve international travel into your logistics, you need to have everything secured well in advance and carry plenty of documentation with you.
As we began planning for this return trip, I asked Taryn what animals she would like to hunt, besides the gemsbok, which is our primary reason for returning to Africa. To my surprise, she said she would like to take a couple of the smaller species of antelope like the duiker and the steenbok. On the last trip to Africa in 2014, we did see a few of these in the bush, but we really had to look hard to find them.
A mature duiker usually stands about 20 inches tall and can weigh about 50 pounds. The steenbok stands an average of 25 inches tall but only weighs about 35 pounds. In the Bushveld of Africa where the brush is thick and over 10 feet high, finding these tiny creatures is like looking for a needle in the proverbial haystack.
Being so small, I texted our outfitter in Africa, asking what caliber they would recommend. Their reply was a .375 solid bullet like you would use on a 1,300-pound Cape buffalo. Excuse me?
Their answer was that the solid bullet would not expand on impact and make a cylindrical hole without blowing half the animal apart.
Only one problem. Taryn does not want to lose her shoulder trying to shoot a .375. Once they realized Taryn was the one shooting the small antelope, they changed their answer to either a .22 Hornet or a .223, something with a small 50 grain bullet. And because they kind of frown on AR platforms being shipped via commercial airlines, they recommended a bolt action rifle.
So I went to my good friends at Miller Gun in Sugarcreek and asked Emery to find us such a rifle. But I said there is one more catch: Taryn is left-handed.
Emery was up to the challenge and called me a week later saying he had found a Savage Trophy Hunter that came in .223 bolt action. He said it even carried a nice Nikon scope with the package. And it came available for left-handed shooters.
So I told him to get us one and kept it as a surprise for Taryn. Most husbands give chocolates; I give guns. When it came, I paid Emery over the phone and asked him to bring it to the Mt. Hope Outdoor Show, which was going on then.
I won’t go into deep detail as to how it went down, but we had some fun surprising her at the show. One more gun to sight in and practice with.
Back in 1967 I gave my life to the Lord in commitment and Christian baptism. Since that time I have been preparing myself and reaching out to others to plan for the future. Christ’s return is not like our hunts. We know how it ends. He will return to take his children home to the place he has prepared for them. Make sure you are prepared.
God bless.