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Going Waterfowl Hunting Tomorrow


timb99

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Going waterfowl hunting in Mpumalanga province, here in South Africa tomorrow.

 

It'll be a first for me. I've never been waterfowl hunting before.

 

Yellow-billed duck, red-billed teal, Egyptian goose, white-faced whistling duck and Spurwing goose are legal game.

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Got to go hunting this past weekend in South Africa. Mostly waterfowl, but we did a little upland hunting too. Great fun.

 

Got up at about 3:00 a.m. to get to my friend's house (45 minute drive) by 5, to get to the field (hour drive) by 6.

 

Lest you think Africa is always hot, when we got out of the car to start our hunt the thermometer on my friend’s car said -3°C which is about 27°F. And there was a lot of frost. And a chilling breeze.

 

No blind, just sit by the side of the pond, which is in the outfall of a small dammed reservoir, and shoot them as they fly over.

 

Bagged 3 yellow-billed ducks, an Egyptian goose, and also did a little upland game hunting and bagged a Swainson's Francolin.

 

There’s a photo of a White-Faced Whistling Duck in there too.

 

Very interesting patterns and colorations on these birds.

 

Swainson's Francolin is an upland game bird, bigger than a Bobwhite Quail, but quite a bit smaller than a Ringneck Pheasant. I guess about the size of a Hungarian Partridge? The one I bagged flushed about 10 feet from me, after having been standing in that spot for about a minute waiting for the dogs to find a downed bird. We hunted for them in a native grass field (much like CRP) next to a corn stubble field. If you had blindfolded me and plopped me down there and told me it was Western Kansas or Nebraska, I would have believed it.

 

Except for the zebras and ostriches we saw.

 

The pond where we hunted is close to three Eskom (our client) coal power plants. Though they look close, they’re really 15 km (about 9 miles) away.

 

I hunted with guys who had English Springer Spaniels. These dogs worked great for both waterfowl and upland. Well trained.

 

It’s not home, but being here doesn’t completely stink.

 

Egyptian Goose

EgyptianGoose2.jpg

 

Power plant near the pond where we hunted.

KrielandMatla3.jpg

Edited by timb99
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