Harrington News

Twenty-five animal heads and furs have been on display in the Harrington

Public Library since June of 1973. The late Louis Schultz was a

Harrington farmer who enjoyed game hunting when he was not busy keeping

his farming operations going. He began game hunting in 1946 and made two

trips to Africa, trips into British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska.

The following articles are taken from the Harrington Citizen.

“Move to Primitive Auxiliary Camp. On the fifth day in the jungle, the

party of hunters was moved 35 to 40 miles in to one of the auxiliary

camps. With thatched-roof grass huts, this camp was more primitive than

the main one, but was still comfortable according to jungle living. The

boys’ quarters were farther removed from the men than at the main camp.

Second day in camp signs of the elephant herd were seen and the spoor.

The tall grass was laid in one direction, indicating the way the huge

beasts were traveling. Elephants: At 10 a.m. the hunters came to a

640-acre swamp area where they spotted 50 head of elephant in the

two-foot-deep water. Only their backs out of the grasses were visible.

Not in close enough range to shoot, the hunters took up their vigil on

an ant hill. (Yes, an ant hill that was at least 10 feet tall and 30

feet at the base.) Before the herd maneuvered about into range, a native

boy spotted other elephants lumbering into the open from some bushes.

When these big-as-barn-door targets came within 150 feet, Guide Guex

instructed: ‘Pick your elephant and shoot!’ With obedient precision, the

hunters downed their limits – two sets of ivories each. ‘It was a thrill

to bag one of the biggest of animals,’ says Schultz. ‘An elephant is not

as hard to kill as a buffalo.’ In the excitement of the shooting, one

elephant cow became infuriated and charged the ant hill fort. In

self-defense the men had to shoot her.”

“The dik-dik is strictly native to eastern and southwest Africa.

Smallest of the antelope family, these slender, small-hoofed animals

stand only about 15 inches high at the shoulder. Females are sometimes

larger, but have no horns. The horns of the male are more than half as

long as his head. Dik-diks are fleet and Schultz found that it required

skill to bag them.

The reed buck of the antelope family is about the size of a deer. Its

black horns 14 to 16 inches long, and unlike others, the horns are

smooth. Perhaps the least challenging game from the sportsman’s

viewpoint, but the most important to the meat-eating plantation natives

(all 200 of them) is the wart hog. Called the ‘world’s ugliest

animal,’this African swine has large tusks that curve upward from its

flat head. Between those tusks and the eyes are several warts, whence

the pig gets its name. Most hunters in this area kill hundreds of the

hogs for the benefit of the natives. There is nothing particularly

attractive about this animal for a trophy, Schultz is having a couple of

the snouts and tusks shipped for the education of his family and

friends. ‘One animal which I didn’t kill,” says Schultz is the monkey.

They are common and swing and flip about with ease.” (We wonder if the

spirit of Darwin enveloped him.) Schultz says baboons are everywhere and

into everything. The females are smaller and more aggressive and

curious. The big guys sit back and let their ladies investigate. Neither

did Schultz kill a hippo nor a crocodile. One must wade into streams to

get them and since there is no particular trophy interest about them, he

decided it was not worth the effort or misery. However, one of the party

got one. His reward was to get soaked, and the natives got the meat. The

animals bagged are skinned out where they fall, by the boys, The most

that is brought into camp to serve to the hunters, is carefully

protected from dirt and insects with handmade, on-the-spot leaf baskets.

‘It is interesting how artfully and how speedily these boys shred jungle

leaves and weave them into protecting cartons,’ says Schultz. Most of

the meat is prepared and taken to the sugar plantation camp. Parts of

the elephant’s trunk are considered a delicacy. The natives eat

practically all animal flesh, even the zebra.

Of great delight to the native boys, are the entrails of the game. Most

nauseously, they dive into the bloody interior of a freshly killed

animal, and in greedy haste they halfway clean the intestines, and then

gulp great mouthfuls of this tripe.”

“Jungle Scavengers do Thorough Job. The flesh that clings to the bones

of the carcass and the offal is soon devoured by big yellow ants that

come in great, live rivers. If a human being is in the path of one of

these oncoming insect currents he is surely doomed, for the ants crawl

on him and cut his flesh.

These ants are said to be the worst natural enemy of the elephant.

Coming upon a sleeping elephant, they crawl into his ears, up his

nostrils, and eventually reach his brain, and he goes mad and dashes

himself to death.

If the ants leave shreds of flesh on the carcasses, vultures that almost

blacken the sky, swoop down and pick the bones dry. These high-flying

birds locate their food by sight. Game that cannot be removed

immediately from the jungle must be well covered with leaves and grasses

“Samples of All Game Served at Table. Food, in camp, is served nicely;

it is prepared by boys in the cook hut and brought to the dining hut.

Spotless linens are on the table. The flesh of most of the animals

bagged, is cooked. ‘I sampled it all,’ says Schultz in a hushed tone,

‘but that doesn’t mean I relished it all!’ ‘Drinking water is supposedly

boiled; water for bathing and laundry is disinfected. Water there, is a

threat to the health of anyone, and in spite of the precautions that

were taken, the other four men had touches of malaria, but I escaped’

added Schultz, There is a native beer and one brew made of corn mash and

another from the sap of a palm tree. This is safer to drink than the

water. Boys do the laundry daily, and it is nicely done.”

“Native Boys are Tough and Valuable. That the native boys are ‘tough’

was demonstrated by one in giving himself first-aid. With only a loin

cloth fastened at his waist by a belt, his black body is exposed to the

rigor of the jungle elements. His feet become calloused and leathery on

the bottoms. This boy ran a thorn into his foot (and jungle thorns are

sharp and strong). With his hunting knife, which is intricately hung to

the rear of his belt, he pared off a slice of the thick hard skin on his

foot, exposing the tender dermis. He prodded about until he dug out the

thorn and then crisscrossed the area with slashes to force bleeding. The

operation completed, without a frown, a grunt, or even a limp, the boy

returned to his work. Schultz believes the natives have underdeveloped

nervous systems, after watching that operation. Sensitive, fleet,

accurate, strong and muscular, those boys are invaluable to hunting

parties. They carry their hunter-guests on their backs and shoulders

(piggyback fashion) over seemingly impassible swamps. ‘When one of my

boys, 150 pounds, shouldered my 170 pounds,’ Schultz laughed, ‘I

expected surely he would drop me in the thick mud, but he didn’t’.”