How long does a tick bite itch? Let me tell you a story

[Maroelas]

The call me through around mid March. Hey bud, I need someone to accompany me on a hunting trip with some work colleagues and clients...there is four of the big 5 on the property. Well who am I to say no to such an invite.

Time dragged on and finally June arrived. The week before the hunt was a nightmare, working late every evening to make sure the work is done. I didn't have time to do proper development with my new batch of S365, so I just tested a middle of the road load and used that.

They picked me up on Thursday morning 18 June and ahead of us lay 5/6 hours of driving. It would be my first hunt in Natal. As we left Pretoria, out came the laptop....the work wasn't finished yet! Well a laptop battery lasts only about 2 hours and I still wasn't done.

The road through Hendrina and Ermelo is boring as a geriatric stripshow. But finally we reached the hills of Northern Natal...and immediately found the gay capital of Natal...



Damn they love their pink houses! As we came down through the hills I caught my first glimpse of lake Jozini, and it would be a constant companion the rest of the weekend.

We arrived at Esikhotheni (www.esikhotheni.co.za) around 3pm. We unpacked and I got hack on my laptop. The PH and guides were out with another party of hunters, so we relaxed and had a few beers.

We lit the braai around 18:30 and ate steak, wors, pap en sous.



Friday dawned clear and cool. I got dressed in shorts and a hunting shirt. We were picked up just after 6:30 and went to sight in rifles. I was up first and the grouping was spot on. Two of the other guys had some issues, but eventually got on target. My guide and I were dropped of first. We were looking for piggies. After proximately 15 minutes of walking I caught the bovine smell....I wondered where the buffs were, but they were a no show. We saw plenty elephant dung, black rhino and buffalo spoor.

My guide spotted a nice warty and the stalk was on. We setup the shooting sticks at around 100m, the guide whistled and the warthog stopped....right behind a tree for me. Hoggy ran off!

After a few more encounters with warthogs that didn't really present a shot we suddenly found ourselves within 40m of sow. I was on the sticks and let fly with a solid placed shot....strike....crashing sounds....silence...we find blood and no pig. Shit! We start tracking, there is very little blood. After an hour we eventually track the pig down in its hole. It storms out and i shoulder my 30-06, the damn scope is black and I can't get a decent shot off. Unfortunately, for the first time, I have wounded an animal. Ee track for another hour, but there is no more blood to follow and we lose the spoor eventually.

We start walking back in the direction of camp and come across this...



Leopard spoor, approximately one hour old.

The bakkie picks us up shortly afterwards.

The afternoon I walk my legs senseless in the koppies, but we don't see any game on my list. My boss calls me while in the veld and I quickly need to make few phone calls to get some stuff sorted for him. Friday evening around the fire Dave tells us with pride how he and his guide nearly walked into a black rhino. Luckily for them the wind was in their favour and they could escape undetected

Saturday morning we are dropped off in a different camp at the back of the property. Within 15 minutes we spot an animal, careful scrutiny reveals a nyala ewe and calf. After an hour and one unsuccesful stalk we are back on the stalk for impala. There is a lot of dead ground between us and the three ewes. Eventually my guide shortens my shooting sticks and open them up. I think he is insane! It is incredibly far (considering I bungled a 40m shot the day before). Well he insists. I lay my 30-06 in the V of the sticks. The ewes have spotted us but can't decide what we are, that is how far away we are. The middle ewe is facing me straight on and the other two are behind bushes. The crosshair dances over the middle ewes chest, I'm too unsteady! I know if I move to much they will run, but I need to move my hand to stabilise the shooting sticks. I move my hand, the ewe freezes and stretches her neck a bit....i squeeze the trigger and just see her drop before losing her in the recoil. I reload immediately, but the guide says don't worry she dropped in her tracks.

I count my paces to where she lies...192 paces. Not massively long paces. Probably 160-170m shot. A personal best in the bush for me.



The bullet struck her about an inch left of centre of her chest.

I am out of my skin! We drag her to the nearest road, I sign off the card with all the details and skinning instructions and we continue the hunt. We run into some giraffe, a nice sight on foot. Not 15 minutes after leaving the impala we spot 2 more ewes. The sticks go up and I let fly...a solid hit. Where she stood there is blood and no impala. Fuck! Not again! My heart sinks into my shoes. My guide (I later found out he is their best tracker ) starts walking downhill. He doesn't follow the spoor. I want to scream at him, but know my frustration is with myself. 100m further we spot her. My shot went high, very high! But the exit wound is massive. I squeeze off another shot, but it's a miss. Luckily she only goes another 20 meters before she succumbs to the first shot.



My guide marking the second ewe.

With my confidence well and truly rattled we set off again. After a while we run in to a nice sized warthog. She is in tall grass and there's no shot. She sniffs us on the wind and changes direction. We realise she doesn't know where we are and is heading towards us. We quickly move to the other side of the tree we are behind. At 10 paces she catches a movement and stands dead still. The movement was me tracking her in my scope. When she stops, she drops with a shot to the neck. Dead in her tracks.



And those teeth



After this we walked for another hour, but my body was tired and I had the minimum level of game I wanted. I told the guide to call the bakkie.

We retired to camp, watched the Boks nearly lose to Wales and then had another braai and ate like kings!

Sunday when we left we ran into these guys




A first for most of us in the group. Crested Guineafowl.

Ticks, I hear you say. Where are the ticks. Well I checked myself every evening in the shower and didn't see anything. Tuesday morning at home, before I get in the shower I notice a tick on my side, and the another and another and another and about 50 more. Yes that is right, probably 50-100 liitle buggers about 1mm x 1mm in size. I have a hundred + bites and those bastards itch. It is 3 weeks later and I still scratch them. I had to drink cortizone that first week to control the itching. Some bites turned black so I went onto antibiotics after the first week (2 week incubation for tick bite fever). Ni had occasional headaches but nothing severe.

And now if you don't want to see my boep covered in bites I suggest you stop reading







Those little red welts...bite marks.

It really was an awesome hunt!

[killzone]

Nice story Bossie ! Congrats on the successful hunt ! I know the famous 'Pongola Ithuba scratch' very well. And yes, it is a few weeks before you are 'healed' from this 11th plague. Those were like the 'Recce-ticks' that got hold of you. They had to navigate through a 'thick jungle' to get to the juicy parts ps. Thank you for not dropping the towel

[Messor]

Well done bossie!

[Maroelas]

ps. Thank you for not dropping the towel

Thanks! Yeah I didn't think anybody would want to see the 3 bites on my nutsack!

[killzone]

[TStone]

Well done, the memories will be there long after the itching has stopped.

[Wesley]

Great read! Congratulations on your harvest. I'm itching to get into the veld.

[BadBoyTazz4Ever]

I'm far from a hunting expert ie never hunted before but i love outdoor activities so i've done my fair share research on how people deal with ticks etc.

Surprisingly enough the most common solution i found is guys using dog shampoo for hair and body wash during time in the bush and it seems to solve tick and flea bites 95% of the time 100%.

[Maroelas]

Yes Toxxyc gave me the same advice. I wanted bayticol, but my wife couldn't find. Will definitely use the dog shampoo next year! Or cattle dip

[Drakensberger]

Yes Toxxyc gave me the same advice. I wanted bayticol, but my wife couldn't find. Will definitely use the dog shampoo next year! Or cattle dip

Be careful with cattle dip. This could really stuff up your hunt. You can't hunt whilst flat on your back in bed.