We had just began to sit down for breakfast that first morning and I’m not even sure if the full group was at the table yet from sorting what gear had arrived out from the missing bags, long days of travel, and late night we had just had but I was just about to indulge in a bowl of cornflakes when our PH Louie walked in off the Phone and said who would like a Caracal? I jumped at the chance and soon we were off in the Landcruiser, we arrived where a dog handler was waiting for us on the road not far from camp. We all got out of the truck following the handler very quickly down the hill into the bush, soon the sounds of baying dogs grew near. Once we got to the tree it was pure chaos it seemed like every dog in South Africa was at that tree, I’m sure it was just 10 dogs, but it sure seemed like more at the time. I was quickly handed an old double barrel side by side 12 gauge shotgun, that I’m sure would just fall apart if you shook it hard enough. I had never hunted with hounds before, and I had never shot a double barrel shotgun before so during the excitement and due to my lack of shotgun knowledge I stretched my trigger finger clear to the front of the trigger houseing and I’d like to say squeezed but I’m sure I just jerked with the pure adrenaline happening and in doing so I pulled both barrels. Luckily a caracal cat is a smaller cat in size and the shot wasn’t difficult because I’m sure I missed half the cat even with pulling double. After our tracker smiley climbed up into the tree to pull the caracal out, we got to look at my first African animal and the first of the trip for the group. I could not believe it I was on the board in Africa with a very cool and unplanned experience. The hook had been set.
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