By Jerry Long, November 22, 2010
In Part 13, The Conclusion, of the African Archery Safari series with Dries Visser Safaris in the Republic of South Africa I share the final day of my trip and a quick story I forgot to relate. There won’t be any pictures in this entry, just information.
25 August 2010
Near the end of the flight we were directed to fill out a Custom’s form. I indicated I had been on “ranch operations” and I had an animal product with me – the warthog tusk. The line for entry and customs wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t quick either. The DHS representative questioned me about the ranch and animal product answers and indicated I would have to proceed to station “B” after claiming my luggage. She asked to see my CBP Form 4457 and despite my immediate declaration that I was “archery only” she wanted me to point out which of the listed items was my firearm. Since there wasn’t one I couldn’t point it out. She then allowed me to pass.
We had to collect our baggage at this point. I was somewhat relieved to see my archery case. Not as relieved as in South Africa as I would have simply filed a claim here, but relieved none-the-less that there would be no hassle. I stood in line for station “B” where I was asked to produce the warthog tusk from Stephan’s collection. After conferring with a supervisor the CBP officer told me she had to confiscate it. No worries from me – I had expected that. She then asked to see my shoes since I had been on a “ranching operation”. I indicated that I had left them in South Africa. She had me pack everything back up and feed it all into an x-ray machine. I was then free to proceed. We re-checked our bags and moved along to a very cramped TSA security check point which was chaos due to the small quarters.
Once cleared, I picked up my traditional airport Starbuck’s latte (“filter” I assume) and waited for my flight. The flights back to Milwaukee were uneventful although I did get a small amount of enjoyment from seeing the Army JAG (lawyer) sitting next to me spill his soda into his shoes (no offense DC Gal). Not that I dislike lawyers in general just some deep-seated feelings associated with Navy JAGs currently and in the past. I would have been more than happy to help hold a soda for awhile if asked…
Mrs. dustyvarmint was there to greet me in Milwaukee and I collected my bow case without problem.
This journal is for you, the reader, but also for me when I am old, in my rocking chair and no longer going on adventures so I have been thinking if there was anything I’d forgotten to record or share. There was one thing.
On 18 August, Hunt Day 3, we were departing the property north of the Citadel about mid-afternoon. Upon turning onto a two-track leading out, we spotted an animal in the distance directly in the path. I couldn’t tell what it was, but Kerneels declared it to be a warthog.
When we got closer it turned out to be a decent male with tusks the same size or slightly smaller than the warthog I took on 21 August, Hunt Day 6. He began to run down the road in front of the truck directly in front of me as Kerneels kept driving. He wouldn’t move out of the road and simply trotted like an escort right in front of the bumper. This went on long enough to start being funny. I’m trying to get out my video or still camera and Dingaan is yelling to Kerneels to run the wartie over as he wants the meat. The boar let out a ferocious grunt every now and then. By this time my stomach is hurting from laughing and I couldn’t get either camera ready. Finally, he peels off to the left side of the road and hits the property line fence head on, but never stopped. In milliseconds he was under it and gone. That was quite a bit of entertainment.
Well, sadly, that brings to conclusion dustyvarmint’s 2010 African Archery Safari daily journal. There will be further posts about trophy handling and shipment and likely other tidbits designed to help you out. I want to thank you for following along and wish you the best of luck on your adventures.
happy hunting, dv
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