Africa has a mystique about it that no other continent can match. There are few hunters that haven't contemplated stalking the great plains animals in countries with exotic names like Zambia, Tanzania and Zimbabwe.

Author: Frank Ross

Aaron Hale has a graduation grin as he poses with his trophy warthog and PH.

Certainly, anyone who has read Ruark or Hemmingway has at least toyed with the idea of making the trip. For many, work and life get in the way, and the dream fades like a vapor of a hot Savannah afternoon.

For Jerry Hale, the dream didn't fade. As a youth he read Ruark and Hemmingway and the images were seared into his very being. While he has hunted all over the North American continent, taking bear, elk and deer, the dreams of the dark continent wouldn't die. They persisted like a tune in the back of your head that won't go away. One day, after a flight to Sidney, he found himself talking with Russell Selle from Cabela's Outdoor Adventures.

"My son, Aaron, graduated in May. He and his twin sister, Meg, had been sharing a beat up old Jeep for years. I told him he could have a choice of a new vehicle or a trip to Africa. His response, "Don't even ask, let's go to Africa."

"We left June 22 and returned on July 10, hunting 12 days. It was quite a trip. We flew to Atlanta, and spent the night there before catching an international flight. You lose 7 hours, and it was a 15-hour flight, so Aaron got a good taste of flying. After spending the night in Johannesburg, the next morning we caught a flight to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, where our PH (Professional Hunter) picked us up," Jerry said.

When years of dreaming and developing fantasies are amassed, sometimes an experience falls short of expectations, but not in this case. "It was far greater than I had anticipated," he said. I really wanted a Kudu. Of all the animals that I had seen or thought about, that was number-one on my list. I told our PH that I wanted a 60-inch Kudu, but I would be happy with a 55. It rained every day, but we saw Kudu every day."

After passing on a number of nice animals, their time evaporated, and Jerry began to adjust his personal criteria based upon the tremendous success the pair had already enjoyed with other animals and the desire to achieve his first goal, the Kudu. "On the last day, I told him that a 52-inch Kudu would be OK. I didn't want to go home without one. The entire hunt had been a blast, and in a way, I didn't care if I didn't get one. But, we still had one last day," he added.

"That evening we hunted down by the Lundi River, and it turned out to be a storybook hunt. That area is heavy brush country. Our PH found and trailed several nice bulls but we couldn't get close enough. They kept giving us the slip in the heavy brush. A half-hour before dark we were going after another big bull in the brush and he gave us the slip so we went back to the Land Rover. While we waited, our PH went down to the river for one last try and came back very excited. He said that he had seen several nice bulls. Aaron had killed the wildebeest that he wanted, and he was kind of indifferent about the Kudu, but our PH said there was a large group of them, and that we might be able to shoot two if they didn't spook."

Jerry Hale and his proud PH pose with his record book kudu.

The sun was going down, and as the last rays of the sun filtered blaze orange through the trees, they approached the river and their last chance. "There had been a lot of floods in the area and a herd of Kudu were standing on a sandbar in the middle of the river. I could see them, and wanted to shoot, but our PH wanted to get me closer. I had on a pair of Cabela's pants that zip off, so I unzipped the legs and we waded the river. As we made our way closer, there were vines and thorny bushes cutting my legs, but I was excited and it didn't matter."

"We were close enough to see them clearly. I took my 300 Mag and climbed onto a deadfall to make the shot. As I was looking the herd over and trying to pick out the largest bull, our guide became very excited. I could see one nice bull, about 57 inches, but he said to look behind that one. As I raised my rifle scope to my eye, a huge bull stood up on a higher sandbar and I put him down. The other bulls were still milling around, so Aaron took my rifle and picked out one for himself. The sun was shining in the scope and he missed the first shot, but our PH told him to relax and take another shot. On his second shot he got a real nice 55-inch bull.

We had taken our shoes off to wade the river, and as we were running over to where they fell, we were stepping on seed pods with big thorns. We had to stop and put our boots back on, and waded in the river, to ease the pain of walking. As we got closer my bull jumped up and I shot it again three more times in the heart. When I got there, I just sat down on top of him and waited for our PH to come back. He and Aaron were off finding his bull," he said.

"When they came back, he got real excited. He measured it with his hands and said it could be a record, but it was definitely over 61 inches. He started jumping up and down and hollering. When we got to camp, we measured the horns. One was sixty-two and the other was sixty inches, but the base of the horns were exceptional which will push their score up dramatically. I don't remember the exact measurements, but I've checked the record books and they will definitely fall in the top 10," he said, adding, "I've never been much on records, but I feel I owe it to our guide and the animal to record him. This is one that is going to make the record books."

Jerry Hale also got a nice impala.

During Aaron's wildebeest hunt, the pair had an interesting experience with baboons. "When we spotted the wildebeest there were two large groups of baboons off to our right. We had to crawl on our bellies to get a shot and were afraid that the baboons would see us and spook the herd," he said. Sure enough, both groups spotted them in the middle of their crawling stalk and started howling. After a few minutes the baboons gave up their taunts and set up a stalk of their own. "They followed us until we got set up, but it didn't seem to bother the wildebeest," he said. When Aaron's rifle roared to life, that sealed the deal for the baboons, and they beat a path back to the safety of the trees. During the 12-day hunt, the Hales took 14 animals, and got all of the species that were on their list, but getting to hunt Africa with his son was a far greater experience than their success afield. According to Jerry, "It was a great hunt without the Kudu, but since that was the animal that I had most wanted to take, it made the trip even more spectacular. It was an awesome time. We've hunted together since he was little. He shot his first deer sitting in my lap when he was eight. I've taken him elk hunting a couple of times. He hasn't gotten one yet, but he's given it everything he had. This fall he's going to go to college so I'm glad we got the chance to go before he gets involved in that," he said.

In addition to the Kudu, both took warthogs, and then their individual preferences took center stage. Jerry got a nice 16-inch bushbuck and a 23-inch impala. Aaron took a tsessebe and a wildebeest that scored 71 total inches. "We both took zebras and some other species that were "add on" animals. We got our zebra from the Mvuma area where we hunted for 4 days. We had trailed the zebra for several miles when we finally came within range. Aaron shot first. He made a nice lung shot and it walked off a ways. I saw him lay down, and as we moved toward him, the others came back to see what was wrong with him. I shot another one from the herd and it fell right beside Aarons. That was neat having them fall together.

Aaron's twin sister, Meg, has seen all of the pictures and heard the stories. Now she is second-guessing her decision to take the car for a graduation gift. What are dads for anyway? "I think I'll take her next year", Jerry said, with an obvious ring of delight in his voice.

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