If I don't write this now I'll lose some of the details, so here is the little story of the hyena.
There are a few animals in my life I’ve really wanted to hunt for. Most are not the typical species that the majority of sportsmen really dream of. I really want a big bush pig, as well as a giant forest hog, and this brown hyena. I’m not sure why that is but We all seem to have different taste in hunting from the various weapons options like archery and handguns to muzzle loaders and center fire rifles. Even the style of hunting has its fans and opponents, bait and hounds or Spot and stalk or cruising the bush in a boat or truck.
I see no reason to belittle any choice here as we are all hunters and should be on the same side first and foremost. Also in my years as a PH I’ve seen many people unable to hunt as hard at 68 as they did at 28. Things change as we age and as we gain more skills, or lose them.
One of the animals I’ve seen lots of times in South Africa has been a brown hyena. They are much different looking then the common spotted hyena seen on nearly every African television program. I’m not sure I have ever seen a brown hyena on a TV show, or even heard them mentioned. They are smaller then the spotted version, and not nearly as aggressive or predatory. Browns usually run near 100 pounds for a big one and really huge could be 125 pounds at the top end. Average they will be 50-80 pounds for the females and 75-100 for the males. These are the real scavengers of the bush, they will prey on newborns and smaller game, but they don’t usually run down and attack prey in packs as the spotted version does so frequently.
They also differ in the very long course hair and striped legs and under fur. The skulls are the typical hyena shape, with the massive bone crunching molars. They don’t have the big heavy canine teeth of the spotted hyena, but rather small canines much like a dog would have. The front feet are huge, larger then the much bigger timber wolf. The rear feet are much smaller and proportional to the body size. The front tracks are as big as the palm of my hand!
So this year I managed to finally get a hunting license and export permit for one of these very unique animals. I’ve tried and tried for a very long time to sweet talk the Nature Conservation out of one but to no avail. They would simply not allow them to be sport hunted and exported as a trophy.
When I was cleared for the permit this year the fella at the desk said to me “I sure hope you get one because I doubt you will ever get another Permit for a brown hyena”. That was the first time I felt nervous. Up til then I just figured it was a done deal that I would bait and shoot one with little effort.
Ever see this many Honey badgers at one time? Most folks only see a couple in a whole life time!
I’ve seen plenty of them in my life in RSA, but when you finally get the permit in your hand it’s a whole new ball game! The bait site, and blind, and the time between hunters in camp was going to be some effort to pull together. I have back to back hunts this season with only a day or part of a day to get everything ready. It’s not as if I can just tell my hunters I’m busy setting up my hunt, you’re going to have to wait for me.
I consider myself lucky to still have this camera. This big dude was not happy with the flash as was just one bite away from crunching this pelican case with the camera inside!
I chose a bait site that had prior activity from past years and was on a regular hyena route through the bush. I then used the entrails from the skinning shed which were from the hunters animals. We used legs, hooves, intestines, etc. scraps that were not eaten or sold. In other words, there is not much to use for this bait because much of the game is utilized by us or the locals. I set up my home made motion game camera over the limited bait I had. The first night I had a hyena come at 2:30 AM……..Wow that’s going to be brutal with my hunters and I leaving the camp at 6:30AM the next morning. I left the camera and instructed the staff to continue baiting that side with the scraps we generate. Over the next week I had activity from 7PM to 3AM at random times between. Not as easy as I thought!
Civit cat, I ended up shooting this too a couple nights after the Hyena
I built a small blind from the bush around the area and kept it at 50 meters from the bait. I then selected a few bleached white skulls lying around there to backdrop the bait and see it in the dark. My first two nights out with a full moon, I saw two hyena. Neither offered a shot picking up chunks and running off into the bush. I stayed until midnight when I was freezing cold in the unusual 37 deg temps.
The third night was the charm. I had made my mind up to stay late and just sleep at the bait. Dressed warm I was mentally ready to sit the whole night and just sleep in the chair I had in the blind. About midnight I decided to stand and look around with the Leicas. I saw Impala kudu and a “herd” of honey badgers on the bait. Then I saw a huge civit cat walking to the bait and start growling and threatening the badgers. Badgers don’t take threats lightly and ran off that civit with such aggressive growls and snarls that is was scary in the middle of the night to hear this in the shadows of the moon lit trees. Sitting over a meat bait by yourself in Africa all night was a little nerve wracking. I’m not sure I really considered that until one of my hunters said something like “that is just plain crazy to sit there all night by yourself” I offered him to come along without any success. I had no takers on this adventure!
I was just about to sit back down when I saw a hyena trotting in that unmistakable gait they have. Just about the time I was able to see it in my mind the flash from the motion camera popped and I was blinded looking at the same area with the field glasses. I sat back down and picked up my rifle. After a minute or two I could start seeing without the big white spot in the center of my vision from the flash. Looking through the 3.5-10 Leupold scope, which had been modified many years ago by Premier Reticles. It now carried the German 4A reticle design and was as bright and clear as needed to see this hyena clearly in the moonlight at just after midnight. I had no idea how big this hyena was, but it was a brown hyena, I have a permit and its 50 meters away…………..Gee what to do? Yet I kept thinking is this the bigger one? ……..Hmmmmm Oh well, the old saying “ a bird in the hand” right?
So……… Boom…….. the fire from the muzzle blinds me yet again, and when I look up there is nothing! Oh that’s just great, I shoot him and he runs off in the middle of the night and now I have to track this thing. I adjust my head lamp and head over that very long 50 meter distance.
In the dark, distance and objects, and especially sounds are so much different then they are in daylight. The growling badgers sounded as if they were just a few feet away from me. The hyenas trotting footsteps seemed as if they were coming right into the blind with me. Same odd situation with the visual images. That 50 meters looked like a mile at night.
Well that hyena was lying dead as a rock right were he stood. With the slight pile of bait there, and the brown color, he was impossible to see lying there from the blind. He’s not the big one I had seen but he’s pretty nice and as I said,…. a filled tag with an adult brown hyena is a long shot better then holding out for the 100 pounder and then getting nothing! The photo’s here at night are not great, but you will get the idea of what he looks like.
Here is the Civet cat I took off the same bait a few nights later.
There are a few animals in my life I’ve really wanted to hunt for. Most are not the typical species that the majority of sportsmen really dream of. I really want a big bush pig, as well as a giant forest hog, and this brown hyena. I’m not sure why that is but We all seem to have different taste in hunting from the various weapons options like archery and handguns to muzzle loaders and center fire rifles. Even the style of hunting has its fans and opponents, bait and hounds or Spot and stalk or cruising the bush in a boat or truck.
I see no reason to belittle any choice here as we are all hunters and should be on the same side first and foremost. Also in my years as a PH I’ve seen many people unable to hunt as hard at 68 as they did at 28. Things change as we age and as we gain more skills, or lose them.
One of the animals I’ve seen lots of times in South Africa has been a brown hyena. They are much different looking then the common spotted hyena seen on nearly every African television program. I’m not sure I have ever seen a brown hyena on a TV show, or even heard them mentioned. They are smaller then the spotted version, and not nearly as aggressive or predatory. Browns usually run near 100 pounds for a big one and really huge could be 125 pounds at the top end. Average they will be 50-80 pounds for the females and 75-100 for the males. These are the real scavengers of the bush, they will prey on newborns and smaller game, but they don’t usually run down and attack prey in packs as the spotted version does so frequently.
They also differ in the very long course hair and striped legs and under fur. The skulls are the typical hyena shape, with the massive bone crunching molars. They don’t have the big heavy canine teeth of the spotted hyena, but rather small canines much like a dog would have. The front feet are huge, larger then the much bigger timber wolf. The rear feet are much smaller and proportional to the body size. The front tracks are as big as the palm of my hand!
So this year I managed to finally get a hunting license and export permit for one of these very unique animals. I’ve tried and tried for a very long time to sweet talk the Nature Conservation out of one but to no avail. They would simply not allow them to be sport hunted and exported as a trophy.
When I was cleared for the permit this year the fella at the desk said to me “I sure hope you get one because I doubt you will ever get another Permit for a brown hyena”. That was the first time I felt nervous. Up til then I just figured it was a done deal that I would bait and shoot one with little effort.
Ever see this many Honey badgers at one time? Most folks only see a couple in a whole life time!
I’ve seen plenty of them in my life in RSA, but when you finally get the permit in your hand it’s a whole new ball game! The bait site, and blind, and the time between hunters in camp was going to be some effort to pull together. I have back to back hunts this season with only a day or part of a day to get everything ready. It’s not as if I can just tell my hunters I’m busy setting up my hunt, you’re going to have to wait for me.
I consider myself lucky to still have this camera. This big dude was not happy with the flash as was just one bite away from crunching this pelican case with the camera inside!
I chose a bait site that had prior activity from past years and was on a regular hyena route through the bush. I then used the entrails from the skinning shed which were from the hunters animals. We used legs, hooves, intestines, etc. scraps that were not eaten or sold. In other words, there is not much to use for this bait because much of the game is utilized by us or the locals. I set up my home made motion game camera over the limited bait I had. The first night I had a hyena come at 2:30 AM……..Wow that’s going to be brutal with my hunters and I leaving the camp at 6:30AM the next morning. I left the camera and instructed the staff to continue baiting that side with the scraps we generate. Over the next week I had activity from 7PM to 3AM at random times between. Not as easy as I thought!
Civit cat, I ended up shooting this too a couple nights after the Hyena
I built a small blind from the bush around the area and kept it at 50 meters from the bait. I then selected a few bleached white skulls lying around there to backdrop the bait and see it in the dark. My first two nights out with a full moon, I saw two hyena. Neither offered a shot picking up chunks and running off into the bush. I stayed until midnight when I was freezing cold in the unusual 37 deg temps.
The third night was the charm. I had made my mind up to stay late and just sleep at the bait. Dressed warm I was mentally ready to sit the whole night and just sleep in the chair I had in the blind. About midnight I decided to stand and look around with the Leicas. I saw Impala kudu and a “herd” of honey badgers on the bait. Then I saw a huge civit cat walking to the bait and start growling and threatening the badgers. Badgers don’t take threats lightly and ran off that civit with such aggressive growls and snarls that is was scary in the middle of the night to hear this in the shadows of the moon lit trees. Sitting over a meat bait by yourself in Africa all night was a little nerve wracking. I’m not sure I really considered that until one of my hunters said something like “that is just plain crazy to sit there all night by yourself” I offered him to come along without any success. I had no takers on this adventure!
I was just about to sit back down when I saw a hyena trotting in that unmistakable gait they have. Just about the time I was able to see it in my mind the flash from the motion camera popped and I was blinded looking at the same area with the field glasses. I sat back down and picked up my rifle. After a minute or two I could start seeing without the big white spot in the center of my vision from the flash. Looking through the 3.5-10 Leupold scope, which had been modified many years ago by Premier Reticles. It now carried the German 4A reticle design and was as bright and clear as needed to see this hyena clearly in the moonlight at just after midnight. I had no idea how big this hyena was, but it was a brown hyena, I have a permit and its 50 meters away…………..Gee what to do? Yet I kept thinking is this the bigger one? ……..Hmmmmm Oh well, the old saying “ a bird in the hand” right?
So……… Boom…….. the fire from the muzzle blinds me yet again, and when I look up there is nothing! Oh that’s just great, I shoot him and he runs off in the middle of the night and now I have to track this thing. I adjust my head lamp and head over that very long 50 meter distance.
In the dark, distance and objects, and especially sounds are so much different then they are in daylight. The growling badgers sounded as if they were just a few feet away from me. The hyenas trotting footsteps seemed as if they were coming right into the blind with me. Same odd situation with the visual images. That 50 meters looked like a mile at night.
Well that hyena was lying dead as a rock right were he stood. With the slight pile of bait there, and the brown color, he was impossible to see lying there from the blind. He’s not the big one I had seen but he’s pretty nice and as I said,…. a filled tag with an adult brown hyena is a long shot better then holding out for the 100 pounder and then getting nothing! The photo’s here at night are not great, but you will get the idea of what he looks like.
Here is the Civet cat I took off the same bait a few nights later.
