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Hunting for the mighty sable thrilling and more

• Bob Hanna: Someday
• July 28, 2021
• 919

So in my third attempt to get this article into hunting mode, I finally say to myself, “Self, why don’t you put the hunting at the beginning instead of the end?” What a brilliant idea, if I do say so myself.

My wife and I are in Africa, where we just finished practice with the rifles that were loaned us. In this particular hunt, we will be using the 7mmWinMag with 180 grain Barnes bullets.

The sable antelope is one of the most beautiful animals in Africa. With clown-like markings on its face and the towering curved horns, sables can live into their upper teens and weigh over 500 pounds. Their biggest distinction is the ability to disappear in a flash.

On our way we stopped and picked up Lucas, another tracker who knows the area well and would assist Adam with locating the big bull.

I want to remind you this is still April, which is like the end of October here. It’s hard enough to spot this ghost as it is, then add to the fact a lot of the brush still has green vegetation.

We drove for what seemed like hours in and out of the brush and saw several groups of sables, but Hannes would glass them and shake his head and say, “He’s not with that bunch.”

Finally, one steps out of nowhere and begins to trot in the opposite direction. Just like that, before we could get a good lock on him, he disappeared.

So for the next two hours, back and forth we scoured the area trying together to find him again. Now many of you experienced hunters know one of the best tricks animals have to evade hunters is to backtrack his position. And that’s exactly where we found him, eating apples not far from where we first saw him.

There was another slightly smaller bull off to our right, kind of walking parallel to us, and two smaller bulls fighting to our left.

At about 200 yards, Hannes motioned the driver to stop, looked at me and said, “You want to walk?” My reply, “Let’s go.”

We stalked in using every bit of cover to just over 100 yards, keeping a large bush in front of the bull between us as cover. When he set up the shooting sticks, my heart was pounding, and I remembered Taryn’s words to me when I would get flustered — “It’s only a target.”

Hannes tapped me on the shoulder as the bull stepped out, his attention drawn with the fighting youngsters.

His words, “On the shoulder,” as I squeezed the trigger, and the huge bull leaped straight up, ran about 30 yards and piled up. I was in total disbelief as the shot was perfect. Walking to this animal, I, of course, first thanked God once again for his blessings, then knelt beside a dream bull, 42-inch horns sweeping over his back.

Hugs, handshakes and pictures followed.

Thankfully, he fell where we could drive up and winch him on our truck.

More to come next time, but I did want to acknowledge the fantastic support for the Whitetail Heritage of Ohio banquet, held July 10 at the Mt. Hope Event Center. This was the biggest banquet to date for this organization, and with over 1,000 in attendance, it was inspiring to see the community coming together to encourage the hunters they sponsor each year, most of whom have limited abilities to hunt. Last year 25 hunters were led into the field with a guide and a camera person. That afternoon they harvested 22 deer.

Along with the hunters, the family of Lewis Troyer, who was tragically killed in a traffic accident, were honored with a special auction, engraved rifles for the children and tremendous applause.

Thirty volunteers along with the Orange Crushers Trap Shooting team helped to set up and tear down. Mose Keim, president of the organization, wanted to express appreciation to all who came and to Byler’s Catering, which once again set a record of getting everyone fed in 30 minutes, and said to mark your calendars for July 9, 2022, for next year’s banquet.

Whitetail Heritage’s purpose is to teach and mentor young or handicapped hunters to allow them to experience the joy we share.

The next youth hunt will be Oct. 2. For more information call Mark Schlabach at 330-231-0596.

God’s blessings on y’all.