PAY A LOT OF ATTENTION TO A BAKKIE WHEN NIGHT HUNTING

PAY A LOT OF ATTENTION TO A BAKKIE
WHEN NIGHT HUNTING
As jy jakkals en kat jag gee meer aandag aan die bakkie en toemaak.
When we call at night it is vital to pay attention to the bakkie,
here are a few tips you can learn from, remember predators
such as cats see very well at night and pick up movement very
quickly and also noise.
I have called for a long time, called a lot of critters, and as I go
along this road I have learnt a lot of things, but giving a bakkie a
lot of attention is a must, if you don’t you will spook a lot of
predators.
Here is a list to help.
1. A truck that you use at night is very big, in relation to a jackal or
Lynx its massive, and will stand out easily, so give the area you
stand a lot of thought, work out from what direction you think
and assume a predator to approach from, and make sure the
bakkie REAR END is facing that side of his supposed approach,
see here, I assumed the cat to approach from the back, so
reversed the truck to face that side, he did come from that side
and he never suspected anything, why we do this is because;
The back of the truck has less shiny parts, no windscreens or side
mirrors, it has no antennas or roof tops to give off a glare etc, it is
also a small obstacle that from a distance wont stand out like a truck
parked from the side! With a side view! The truck is much smaller
with just the rear end facing the approach side.
The cat approached from the rear, from left to right and back left, at
the back of the truck as per red line.
2. Then remember to close up all inside flashing alarm lights etc,
the inside at night on a pitch dark night with flashing alarm lights
on the dashboard will light up the entire bakkie inside!
3. Tie down the netting from the approach angle more so than the
rest of the truck, tie it all down but pay a lot of attention to the
rear. And make sure no rings that make a noise are on the camo
netting.
4. DO NOT use shade cloth to cover the truck, it shines and
makes a noise, NEVER USE shade cloth
5. Use Hessian from the CO OP in wheat areas and blend the
colours you use to the areas around you, DO NOT use BLACK
to cover the truck, black stands out at night, if you don’t believe
me, put a black cover over your bakkie, walk 50m away, bend
over to jackal height, look up at the truck and see yourself on a
dark night……………..
6. Sweep out the back of the bakkie, and remove all papers,
stones etc and give the chair a good greasing, you must be
100% dead quiet at all times.
7. I use a soft netting to cover the truck and then I apply a thicker
dull coloured camo netting for the entire bakkie. In this picture
above you can see the nettings in the boxes on the ground.
Netting soft
cover and camo
netting for entire
truck.
Making use of the time when arriving an hour before dark at the
calling place gives you a lot of time to tie down and prepare the
bakkie, position it properly etc, pay a lot of attention to the bakkie, it
will help a lot and will help you go unseen.
I hunted on the coast and used a jeep, the camo net
was not enough and I had to make a plan with the front
window, so dropped it down to reduce glare, glare is
bad news at night, so prepare the truck well.
Never had enough netting to cover from windscreen, so dropped it
down and was a much better deal. Better to go the extra mile and
remove as much glare as you can.
Finally one last tip, try to never park in the road that you will call as
shown here, predators walk roads often and will know if suddenly a
large object is standing in a place it never was yesterday, so try pull
off the road at all times.
Hope this helps.
www.africanpredator.com
0824853885