"We were there just at the break of day. We left the hunting car at the native village. The same local native was with us. After he had walked three or four hundred feet with the rest of us close behind, he turned to the right, went around a clump of bushes where he pointed ahead, and there stood two rhinoceros not 250 feet from us. They were right out in the open , at what the natives call a 'salt lick' which is nothing more than a hole in the ground where the animals dig for salt. Both rhinos were out in the open and we walked right out in the open and stood and watched them for a few minutes, making certain that the wind was in the right direction, so that they couldn't smell us. Inasmuch as their eye sight is very poor, they could not see us even though we were within 250 feet. The guide, one of the gun bearers, and the Doctor walked around to the left, around some bushes, where they thought they could get a better broadside shot at one of the rhinos. Of course they picked out the biggest rhino and found that he was pretty tough, as they had to shoot him four times to stop him. The second rhino was only about three fourth grown, and was evidently a calf, following its mother. We were informed that the rhino calf follows its mother until another calf is born, regardless of its age and size. However when another calf is born, the mother chases the older calf away.
The smaller rhino stayed around. Inasmuch as it was only shortly after daybreak, there was not enough light to take any pictures, so we waited around watching him until there was light enough to get our pictures. We then had the problem of getting rid of the second rhino, so we could get our trophy. We finally took the hunting car to try to chase him away. Part of the the time he was chasing the truck and part of the time the truck was chasing him. Finally he took off into the brush, and we saw no more of him.
After removing some of the skin, which we wanted, which skin is 1 1/4" thick, and taking the feet and horns we stopped for our breakfast, having taken our cooking equipment and cooks with us. They had cooked our breakfast while we were doing the hunting.
After breakfast, we went to the spot where I had shot my rhinoceros, and much to our surprise we found the second rhino was still there, so again we had the problem of getting rid of a rhino so we could get the trophy. It seemed that the live rhino suspected that there was something around, as he immediately started prancing around. We were all ready with our guns to take care of him in the event that he had come at us. All of a sudden, he decided to go the other way and disappeared. We then skinned the rhino, took the feet and horns, and headed back for camp."
Last edited by 5sdad; 10/24/20.
