3 february 2020





"Little Warrior" - as published in Man Magnum Magazine - March 2016



There's an unwritten rule in the South African PH community as far as hunting dogs are concerned... You never, ever, buy a dog from anyone other than a proper breeder! The mere thought of buying one from a Pet Shop is in fact severely frowned upon...


That's right... if you want to get yourself a "real" hunting dog, you find the finest breeder and pay an extravagant amount of money to make sure you get the dog with the best temperament and best nose possible... That's a "real" hunting dog!





Well, this tale is not one of such a dog... This tale is about a little pup - bought in a Pet Shop in the city nine years ago… This tale is about "Miss Walker" - the most loyal companion a hunter could ever ask for. My wife and I each picked a pup from two separate litters and decided to name them after our favorite Scotch... "Johnny & Walker" that day in the Pet Shop...


Johnny met an untimely and early demise at the hands of a thoughtless neighbor and his .270 but Walker prevailed and over time she became "Miss Walker" - due to her ladylike mannerisms. Walker was indeed a true lady and everyone who met her (dog lover or not) immediately fell in love with her. In spite of her "questionable" background, Miss Walker showed a keen interest in hunting very early on and just loved chasing squirrels around the yard. She was not particularly successful in her endeavors though as the squirrels were way too fast for her and time and again she'd find herself yelping at the base of the tree the squirrel had vanished into.


One day; I decided to ease her frustration so I took my pellet gun and shot one of the squirrels that was giving her such a hard time. The squirrel fell, Walker had her quarry and she shook the heck out of the irritating little bugger until she was 100% sure it was dead. I repeated this a few times over the next weeks and soon Walker figured out that - if she helped me to find the squirrels - I'd help her by killing the "irritating" little beasts...





One day as some friends and I got ready to leave for an afternoon hunt, I looked up and saw Miss Walker sitting on the veranda. The look in her eyes pleaded: "Please Master! Can I come with?" Well I decided it couldn't do any harm so I picked her up and off we went in search of Bushbuck. I left Walker on the back of the pick-up as we went stalking a Bushbuck Ram we'd seen earlier and my friend got a shot at it a short while later.


As we walked up to the spot from where the Ram had bolted, there was a sudden white flash... It was Walker passing me at Mach 1 and while I was still trying to figure out the tracks with my one eye, I kept my other eye on her - seeing how she suddenly put her nose down, changed direction and took off. She was clearly on the track of something so I decided to give her the benefit of doubt and followed her to where the dead Bushbuck Ram was lying under a tree - maybe 40 yards away. From that day onward little Miss Walker was an integral part of my hunting operation and this was only the first of many animals that she'd led me to.





I'll never forget the Nyala that Mark wounded at the bottom of a ravine down in KZN back in '09. There was very little blood to track but Walker got onto it and she helped me chase that Nyala bull almost all the way back up the ravine where I could finally get a kill shot at it. Or the Blue Wildebeest in Limpopo that ran for miles before Walker cornered it and allowed Lorne to dispatch of it.


I've lost count how many Warthogs Walker had bayed for me over the years. Oh boy! What she lacked in size - she sure made up for in sheer guts and bravery. The really neat thing about this little warrior was that - when you told her to back off - she would do just that - giving the Hunter an opportunity to finish off the wounded animal. A rare quality - not common with Jack Russel Terriers...


More recently she saved the "behinds" of both my client and I hunting Buffalo... We were following up on a wounded buff in some seriously thick stuff and could barely see a few feet ahead of us in places. It was Walker who found that buff where it was waiting for us behind the bush and it was she who kept him busy until we could finally see him! Without her that day could've gotten very nasty real fast but thanks to her it did not...





Well; last Monday Miss Walker joined Sabina on her morning ride and a few minutes into the ride Sabina's horse (Zhough) suddenly came to an abrupt halt as a huge Black Mamba lifted its head a couple of feet from Zhough's front leg. Zhough froze, refusing to move and the next moment Walker was between the snake and the horse.


Sabina screamed to hell and high heavens for Walker to back off but (unusual for her - given her normal behavior) the little warrior continued fighting the snake and alas received a bite to the head before the snake moved off into the tall grass... Less than 20 minutes later the brave little girl died in my tracker (Sammy)'s arms as we entered the Vet's rooms...


Why she wouldn't back off from this particular Mamba I don't know. She's been hunting with me for so many years and we have encountered many snakes during this time. I've also shot numerous snakes out of trees around the house and each time she wanted to approach it she would back off if told to do so... Could it be that she felt a need to protect her unarmed family members from a snake that was a few feet away from a horse refusing to move? The answer we will never know...


But meanwhile; Goodbye little lady! Rest in Peace and may the squirrels in your new hunting grounds be slower than you. Give them hell and know you will be missed back here!



Your Subitle Here





PATRICK