{"id":15706,"date":"2019-11-07T21:18:45","date_gmt":"2019-11-07T21:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/?p=15706"},"modified":"2023-06-19T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-19T16:24:07","slug":"life-and-death-in-africa-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/life-and-death-in-africa-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Life and Death, in Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

For some reason I picked up an apple as I left the lodge. I shoved it in my pocket and threw my gear in the Land Cruiser. After almost 30 days away from home, I needed some alone<\/em> time. An hour later I\u2019d found it under an acacia tree at the edge of a wide savannah. The morning was Africa cold<\/em>\u2013just above freezing\u2013but the sun felt good on my face. I remembered the apple in my pocket, and the first bite took me back to another cool morning, and with\u00a0doves cooing in the distance, my mind got away from me.<\/p>\n

I recalled Dad carrying me on his shoulders while we raccoon hunted, because my legs were too short to keep up with the hounds. I remembered how he\u2019d explained the difference between red and white oak acorns, showed me bear poop, and taught me about using the wind to your advantage. I even chuckled, thinking about how he always let me shoot first when we flushed a grouse; I\u2019d miss, and he\u2019d kill it. And, a grin found my face recalling his advice before I went off to Basic Training, \u201cTake care of your feet. If they get sore, you\u2019re done.\u201d He was right; it\u2019s why I\u2019ve always got extra socks with me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Time passes. Months turn to years, years to decades, and the sun was now much higher than it was when I found this stillness. With the wrinkles on my face mirroring my father\u2019s, a wrinkle in time had found me, lost somewhere between the Allegheny Mountains and the Bushveld, between childhood and all grown up, I felt content and alone, but I sensed a hand on my shoulder. That\u2019s when I caught a glimpse of movement.<\/p>\n

I reached for my binocular. (Dad called them field glasses and never hunted without them. I won\u2019t either.) It was a mature warthog, walking with his nose in the wind. I tossed the core of the apple onto the red dirt, grabbed my rifle, and started to cut him off. I paralleled him for several hundred yards until I\u2019d cut the distance down to what dad would have called \u201ca sure thing.\u201d Finding the perfect spot for an ambush, I crouched behind a termite mound, and when the old boy stepped out, I shot him right between the eyes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019d been a good morning, which in a way had spanned almost a half-century. As I walked back to the truck, I thought about how far and close<\/em> a safari in Africa and a squirrel hunt in West Virginia are apart. I also thought about how a passion shared between a father and son, fueled during a cool fall morning on a hickory ridge, could be the inspiration for a lifetime of chasing wild things, and a career where it never seems like I actually go to work.<\/p>\n

A few days later my son and I were boarding the plane in Johannesburg for our flight home when my phone rang. My wife tearfully and painfully told me Dad had passed. Over the next 16 hours I tried to remember the last hunt where we were together. I couldn\u2019t. Then I realized, it was just a few days ago. He knew I was on safari. He knew the day I was coming home. And, while he was not able to get his worn-out body out of bed, he\u2019d found a way to be there with me.<\/p>\n

That was five years ago and I’ve been to Africa several times since. While there, I aways take time to get away from everyone, but I’m never really alone; dad’s dead, not gone. He’s with me there, just like he’s with me when I’m sitting under a hickory in the Appalachian hills. And I always try to have a nice and shiny, big red apple to share with him.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Dad with a buck taken about 1960 with a 16-gauge slug.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“…but I’m never really alone; dad’s dead, not gone. He’s with me there, just like he’s with me when I’m sitting under a hickory in the Appalachian hills. And I always try to have a nice and shiny, big red apple to share with him.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":15708,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2579,2821,2522,2820],"tags":[391,395,2903,648],"class_list":["post-15706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-empty-cases-exclusive","category-hunt","category-latest","tag-africa","tag-hunting","tag-life-and-death","tag-safari"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Buck-31.jpg?fit=4032%2C1863&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5hujZ-45k","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15492,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-hunting-wire-life-and-death-in-africa\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":0},"title":"The Hunting Wire – Life and Death in Africa","author":"gunwriter","date":"February 24, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"This is the inaugural editorial in the first edition of the Hunting Wire. Life and Death in Africa For some reason I picked up an apple as I left the lodge. I shoved it in my pocket and threw my gear in the Land Rover. After almost 30 days away\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDITORIAL"","block_context":{"text":"EDITORIAL","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Week-1-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Week-1-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Week-1-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Week-1-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/Week-1-8.jpg?fit=1200%2C807&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17865,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/africa-explained\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":1},"title":"Africa, Explained","author":"gunwriter","date":"April 4, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"After nearly two decades of African safaris, I\u2019ve learned some things. This is how I see Africa. It\u2019s a place where you can drink too much whisky at night, and not feel it the next morning.It\u2019s a place where you can get blood on your hands and feel no need\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "EDITORIAL"","block_context":{"text":"EDITORIAL","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/editorial\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/AF-24.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/AF-24.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/AF-24.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/AF-24.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6932,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/romantic-boots\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":2},"title":"Romantic Boots","author":"gunwriter","date":"May 8, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Romance is a big part of hunting and to experience that romantic connection to the past, hunters often go to great lengths. Sometimes to their detriment. This infatuation with the romance of the hunt probably most happens in Africa. Images of the last ivory hunter or Ruark often drive hunters\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Strathcona-Boots-240x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15244,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/under-orion\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":3},"title":"Under Orion $19.99","author":"gunwriter","date":"October 29, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Under Orion - Hunting Stories from Appalachia to Africa is the latest book from the Empty Cases' proprietor Richard Mann. It\u00a0is a collection of stories he has written over the past 15 years. Some of the stories are sad, some are happy, some are nostalgic. Most are true - or\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "BOOKS by Richard Mann"","block_context":{"text":"BOOKS by Richard Mann","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/books\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cover-Image.jpg?fit=804%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cover-Image.jpg?fit=804%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cover-Image.jpg?fit=804%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/Cover-Image.jpg?fit=804%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6963,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/hunting-with-fort-richmond-safaris\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":4},"title":"Hunting with Fort Richmond Safaris","author":"gunwriter","date":"May 15, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Outdoor writer Len Waldron talks with Fort Richmond Safaris' Geoffrey Wayland about his first safari. You might also like these posts:","rel":"","context":"In "HUNTING"","block_context":{"text":"HUNTING","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/category\/hunt\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/05\/Africa-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12077,"url":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/the-trespasser-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":15706,"position":5},"title":"The Trespasser","author":"gunwriter","date":"September 11, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"This is an excerpt from the upcoming book, Under Orion - Hunting Stories from Appalachia to Africa Small patches of fog drifted above the treetops like lost spirits. Sunrise was an hour gone but the morning was cool and overcast. The world seemed dim and for hunting, he was late.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"hunting memories\"","block_context":{"text":"hunting memories","link":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/tag\/hunting-memories\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"TRs-2","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/09\/TRs-2.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15706"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17917,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15706\/revisions\/17917"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15708"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empty-cases.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}