{"id":1481,"date":"2015-07-02T14:53:45","date_gmt":"2015-07-02T14:53:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/?p=1481"},"modified":"2016-09-07T20:33:27","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T20:33:27","slug":"childhood-dream-to-hunt-africa-realized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/childhood-dream-to-hunt-africa-realized\/","title":{"rendered":"Childhood dream to hunt Africa realized."},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\"m_DSCF0105\"<\/a>Ron Stalder\u2019s childhood dream was to hunt Africa. His wife Sue joined him to realize his dream.<\/h5>\n
Ron wrote:<\/h5>\n
“Hunting Africa has always been a childhood dream of mine. As a result I could not contain my excitement when the time had finally arrived to embark on my first morning\u2019s hunt with Geoffrey at Fort Richmond.<\/h5>\n

At first we passed groups of Blesbok and Springbok. A nice herd of Gemsbok appeared and we decided to pursue them.<\/p>\n

We departed from the vehicle to start the stalk just over the crest of a small hill and we took position under a low tree. As Geoffrey set up the shooting sticks, he indicated where he thought the Gemsbok would appear.<\/p>\n

My excitement rivaled that of hunting my first whitetail deer back in Iowa as a young boy and I struggled to maintain my composure. After what appeared to be a while, Geoffrey spotted the Gemsbok and told me to get ready.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe I was about to get a crack at my first African animal. \u00a0The range was just over 200 yards and the lead animal was a nice bull. \u00a0\u00a0As the bull led the herd up the hill, I could feel my heart racing, and had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm my nerves.\u00a0 I followed the bull through the scope, keeping the crosshairs on the target. He stopped and stood in the perfect position.\u00a0 Just as I was squeezing the trigger, he turned away from us offering only a shot at his rump. \u00a0As Geoffrey whispered for me to wait until he turned back, the bull quartered away and he told me to take him behind the shoulder; angling the shot forward.\u00a0 I settled the crosshairs and launched the 150 gr. bullet.<\/p>\n

The herd bolted and headed back the way they came. The bull split off to the right and disappeared through the trees. Solomon, our tracker confirmed that it was a good shot. We picked up the shooting sticks and walked swiftly in the direction the bull ran. As we cleared the trees, we saw nothing running or standing and my heart sank.\u00a0 Geoffrey started searching through his binoculars. We walked approximately 50 yards further and he said \u201cI think I see your bull\u201d.\u00a0 My first reaction was to get ready for a follow up shot, but Geoffrey said he was lying just ahead in the tall grass and appeared to be dead.<\/p>\n

We\u00a0approached cautiously and once we determined the bull had expired, I could feel the excitement build-up along with the adrenaline rush.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t believe I was looking at my Gemsbok bull, the first African animal taken by me and that my dream had come true. I could not stop looking at the beautiful facial markings and horns of the animal – truly majestic.”<\/p>\n

It is worth the effort to pursue your dreams, it really is.<\/em><\/p>\n

A dream becomes a goal when action is taken toward its achievement. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 Bo Bennett<\/em><\/h6>\n

\u00a0<\/em>Why don\u2019t you make your dream a goal? it will change you forever!<\/p>\n

\"m_photo<\/a>Ron and Sue with the Waterbuck he took.<\/em>\"m_photo<\/a>Ron’s Black Wildebeest<\/em>\"m_photo<\/a>Ron’s Blesbok<\/em><\/p>\n

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Make an effort to pursue your dreams. It is worth it.<\/a><\/div>\n

Click To Tweet<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ron Stalder\u2019s childhood dream was to hunt Africa. His wife Sue joined him to realize his dream. Ron wrote: “Hunting Africa has always been a childhood dream of mine. As a result I could not contain my excitement when the time had finally arrived to embark on my first morning\u2019s hunt with Geoffrey at Fort […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1481"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1494,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1481\/revisions\/1494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1481"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1481"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/fortrichmond.co.za\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1481"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}