Week 352 ( 21st - 27th May 2010 )
The Brothers show how not to hunt
During the course of one morning Hulooo followed the road, sniffing and scent-marking several places. Coco tagged along after him and marked same spots. JenB later followed them and he also added his scent to those spots his brothers had already saturated between them as passed them by. They all then moved towards the eastern side of the camp and spread out where the blesbuck where feeding. Whilst he was walking Hulooo suddenly surprised a hare which naturally sped off and just as naturally Hulooo chased after it. Coco wasn’t going to miss out on the fun and joined the chase as the hare headed towards him. The hare changed direction and moved towards JenB who was lagging some distance behind. He saw the hare and rushed after it. Although he was close the hare was way to too quick and nimble and with a flick of its tail disappeared into a bush.
The brothers searched the bush trying first this side and then another but to all to no avail. They lost interest after a while and turning their interest to the Blesbuck they returned to the eastern side of the camp. Two brothers followed the northern fence road while one was cut across the middle of the camp towards the Blesbuck. The hunt was a full frontal attack with no stealth. Coco rushed in but the blesbuck was on the alert and fled before he could say run. The other two brothers did not even participate in the final chase and decided they had had enough and lay down once the blesbuck had disappeared. Half way down the fence Hulooo lay down in full view of the blesbuck and the others walked closer. Whether this is part of a hunting strategy is not yet known.
JenB soon gave up and lay down as well leaving Coco to go it alone. He conducted a classic stalk using a tree between him and the 3 blesbuck. Every time a Blesbuck looked up for a look-see Coco immediately froze, mid-stride. He managed to get to the tree about 40 – 50m from the blesbuck without spooking them but unfortunately his impatience got the better of him and he raced in for the kill. The buck sped off and he tried to outrun them but with no luck . The other two then joined in the chase by forming a line and trying to corner the blesbuck.
A count of the blesbuck the following morning showed that even though the earlier hunt had been a wasted effort, they had been successful at another attempt during the night. Perhaps they do their best hunting when they are not being watched.