The Best of Ellijay, Blue Ridge & Jasper Funpaper issue 7 | Page 14

thing to
parks, so that’s a very exciting , zebra,
n to see giraffes
do. Very commo
everywildebeests, and impala’s just moved
ning we
where you go. One eve
in just an
from one town to another and the
ng
hour and a half drive, just alo 100 big
highway, we counted well over d,
warthogs. On the side of the roa the
on
yeah, just out eating the grass
ay.
side of the highw
here.
Robb: Just like you see deer or
see deer
Jim: Yeah, just like we
here,
turkeys on the side of the road ’t see
it’s the warthogs. You don
there
They’re
very many of the other animals.
, I guess.
more skittish
re in
Robb: So, while you were the
was more of the
South Africa, it
plains, not really a jungle?
ntry is
Jim: No. A large part of the cou a
Nambia is almost like
very dry and
ybe,
desert. Some parts may get ma very
in a year so
eight inches of rain
Dakota or
similar to our West, like South . What
ely dry
rem
d there Arizona where it’s ext
Robb: Yeah, I bet. So, you sai I see they call the bush looks very much like
re.
see in
was a big outfitting store the not
the low, bushy country that you th
ntry in Sou
ica like the Tarzan movies,
Afr
Texas. A lot of the cou
t. You do have the
with stores.
Capital Africa, looks like tha the plains where
was in the big city; the
Jim: This
open savannahs and
a. You
of that
of South Africa, which is Pretoribig city
there’s just grass; you have a lot Very
fly to Johannesburg, which is a of Ath no trees on it at all.
as well wit
actually pretty close to the size and it’s a different kind of hunting when you’re in
ulation
wide
lanta as far as total pop
that kind of country because it’s so
world
big, spread out city and it’s a 1st can
and the animals can see you .
open
it
country/city in many ways, but country they will move to get away from you
, or 5th kind of
close to
also be a 3rd, 4th
They’re not going to let you getAfrica
eling 200 yards down the
th
just by trav
them. There are parts in Sou we do
l where
road. For example, the hospita r done
where they get as much rain asterns
the first heart transplant was eve
here in Ellijay. The weather pat erent.
from
is in Johannesburg. You can go rt
and the terrain are very, very diff h
oug
that hospital, where the first hea yards
You also have rivers running thr I did on
transplant was done and go 200
as and one of the things
the are
ple
ile. I
down, and there would be peo h a fire
this trip was I hunted for a crocodsee
median wit
camped out on the
e one because I didn’t
did not tak
und
would
going. Lots of squatter camps arobig
one that I felt measured up and week
leave the
a trophy. The
the country. When you
be sufficient to be
bush is
ple
city, you’re in the country. The
before I was there, the same peo e
exact sam
they refer to it as.
what
that I hunted with, in the
the big
codile
Robb: So how far away from
place that I hunted, killed a cro d close
city was this lion?
about 15 feet. It weighe
that was
were on
they
Jim: About a 4 hour drive. We near
to about 1700 pounds and when rubof South Africa
the western side
they found a pair of
opened it up,
Africa is
the border of Botswana. South there’s a ber boots in the stomach.
ntry, but
there
a fairly developed cou
Robb: You kind of wonder if m.
prelot of open land. The big game ryson attached to the
was a per
ld’ve
serves you don’t hunt in. So, eve in
Jim: That’s the only way they cou ts.
ger, which is
body’s heard of Kru
And it was both boo
big ones. gotten in there.
South Africa. That’s one of the graphic Robb: Both? That had to be someal Geo
t crocoYou see a lot of the Nation
body. Somebody got into tha
don’t
shows are filmed there, but you and do
a story.
dile. That’s
e to you
hunt there. You can go throughwatchJim: Yep. So, that brings it hom with
tos and
’re not dealing
a safari, but it’s for pho
in a hurry that you
se for
ing the animals. We organize tho r
toy animals here
’re ove
, but
people as well and while you parks
Robb: So it digested the person
there it’s easy to go into those ger
the boots...
and do that. You could go to Kru phants, Jim: .....were still there because they are
wild ele
. That
and ride around and see
rubber and they wouldn’t digest
pards
wild lions roaming free; even leo game opened my eyes considerably. While
and cheetahs; all protected in the

going to
customers heard that we were need
y said “You don’t
hunt lions, the
’ll need
but one pack of bullets, but youso we
ear. ” Yeah,
4 packs of underw
the trip.
laughed about that the rest of
ng when it
Robb: You weren’t laughi
was coming at you.
got
Jim: No, but you know, I never were
al hunters
scared. The profession
ir busiextremely calm. They know the of
dreds
ness and have done it hun
should
times. After I think about it, I wasn’t. If
more scared, but I
have been
very difI ever go again I’d approach it
ferently.
Robb: Like what? How?
gun.
Jim: Well, I would take a bigger h
go without going wit
But I'd never
y were
people that really know what the nt to
remely importa
doing. It’s just ext
on it.
do that. You’re life’s depending that
animal like
One person hunting an
would be foolhardy.

14

The severity of the itch is inversely proportional to the ability to reach it.