One Heck Of A Ride

112 Liberia And Its Duikers us -- Mel, Holdsworth, and I -- all felt subsistence hunters were overhunting the area and that Banks should move his base camp farther from the village. Nonetheless, although I never saw a water chevrotain, I did shoot two bay duikers and three Maxwell duikers on that hunt, as well as a genet (a small spotted cat-like carnivore with large ears and a ringed tail). I also shot at and missed a zebra duiker, and missed my chances for a yellow-back duiker, a bushbuck ram, and a black duiker when my guide or caller saw them and I didn’t. The first time this happened, the caller tried to grab my shotgun. Neither Saloe nor Quien could understand why I wanted to be the only shooter on this hunt. They measured a trophy hunt by the meat it produced, and it made no difference to them who did the shooting. They did not speak English and I had to explain through an interpreter that they were being paid to find and point out what I would shoot. If I missed the shot or the chance to shoot, it was part of the challenge. I did not want someone else shooting for me. I would do it myself or it wouldn’t be done. I was the only hunter in our group to see a zebra duiker, and when I asked why we hadn’t seen more of them I was told this species prefers higher ground and the primitive road to where other hunters had taken them was impassable when we were there. When our hunt ended after just one week of hunting, Dr. Holdsworth had shot two bay and two Maxwell duikers, and Mel Toppence had collected a bay duiker with his longbow. Banks had taught the local men how to skin an animal for a taxidermist, and I tried to teach them how to dry and preserve the skins. Drying anything was not easy in a wet and humid rainforest, but the three of us were able to get the hides and skulls of our duikers and my genet in shape to take home with us. Our return trip to Monrovia was just as long and tiring. Gasoline was hard to find along the way, but Banks somehow managed to buy enough (in quart-size glass jars!) for us to reach the city. As we approached the hotel, we saw bullet holes we had not seen in the facades of embassies earlier. Cars and a school bus had been turned over and burned. Banks had some type of arrangement with the hotel’s owner that allowed us to eat and stay there even though it was closed to others. It was too dangerous for us to go outside, the owner said. We had trouble getting out of Monrovia at first because of the war, but Banks eventually was able to get us on a flight to Abidjan. I earlier had filled out the proper U.S. forms, obtained the necessary export permits from the Liberian government, alerted the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service before the hunt when we would Village children with author and his Maxwell duiker Certain vines that held pure fresh water made carrying canteens unnecessary