My most difficult hunt last year happened when I was hunting in Chad. Chad has been closed to hunting for several years, because the last outfitter hunting there was speared by a local tribesman. The country arrested the outfitter with a spear in his leg. Chad is located in central North Africa, and the countries around Chad are very unstable. So, I knew there was an element of danger before I left to go on the hunt.
Last spring Chad reopened for hunting for about a month. I was fortunate enough to get into Chad and be able to hunt for the western kudu. The warlord of the area where we were hunting was protecting us. There were two truckloads of mercenaries - one truck in front of us and one truck behind us. The mercenaries in the trucks had rocket launchers and 50 caliber machine guns mounted on their trucks. So, I felt well-protected. Sitting in camp at night I was thinking, “Our camp is always surrounded with mercenaries with machine guns and rocket launchers 24/7. Anytime we’ve been hunting, we’ve had armed guards in front of us and behind us.”
This was probably the most unusual hunt that I ever had been on in my life. I never had felt concerned about my personal safety or encountering people who might want to harm me until this trip, but I must say that I felt very secure having our protectors with us at all times.
