Tougher Than the Rest
Originally published in The Greeley Tribune September 30, 2023.
If a rifle could talk, Nick Van Zyl’s firearm would have some tales to tell.
This may very well be the most prolific rifle of all time.
A young Nick Van Zyl poses over a Cape buffalo. Photo/Nick Van Zyl
In a world that seems to have driven our youth inside, spending too much screen time on iPhones, televisions, and gaming systems, kids are being deprived of good old fashioned vitamin C provided by playing outside. Children need wind-tousled hair, and bumps and bruises caused by ruckus-ing about outdoors with their friends. This builds confidence, problem solving skills, and teaches our children how to work together and disagree respectfully. These types of childhood activities build character, self-esteem, and social skills.
Two Sundays ago, my husband helped my son, Saxon, fry frog legs. Saxon had skinned them after he and his friends Rybin, Porter, Maverick, Jackson, Jack, Timmy and Gideon had brought them down with their BB guns. As I watched, I thought about how so few children get these experiences. It made me thankful that some kids still are adventurous and prefer the outdoors, coming home with bug bites, scraped knees, sunburns, and windburns—souvenirs of racing around on scooters and motorcycles, fishing, shooting frogs and rabbits, catching garter snakes, mastering the slingshot, and laughing.
These childhoods seem to exist only in history, it reminds me of my childhood. I’m raising my children to live the life of a person whose biography I’d like to read—a biography like many of my friends should have. A biography like my friend Nick should have.
Nick Van Zyl has lived a life! But with no written biography to commemorate his experiences, his memories and tales are shared fireside with those fortunate enough to be called his friends.
Between the years of 1978 – 1989, Nick worked at Gazankulu Park as a game Warden and Professional Hunter. He was the first and maybe only Professional Hunter employed by the South African government.
Gazankulu Park bordered the western side of Kruger Park. Nick's job as a warden included monitoring and sometimes culling problem animals in the park. He used various rifles from a .308 to a .458 Winchester. The rifle he used most on lions and hippos was a .s375 H+H Remington given to him by Jim Welch, ex-husband of Raquel Welch. Jim gave the rifle to Nick after a successful lion hunt. As a warden with that rifle, Nick shot about 50 lions, 50 hippos, hundreds of plains game, a few leopards, and a couple of elephants too. This may very well be the most prolific rifle of all time. If a rifle could talk, this firearm would have tales to tell.
Children need scrapes on their
knees, wind-tousled hair, and
bumps and bruises caused by
ruckus-ing about outdoors
with their friends.
I asked Nick if he had logged what he had brought down with it, and while he did not keep records of it, he told me that some years it was used to cull 300 plus animals.
Problem animals are crop raiders and the cats that kill livestock. Some problem cats kill humans, some for food, and some for sport. Leopards, for example, kill for sport and will clean out a field of livestock while teaching their offspring how to hunt.
After dinner, sitting around the fire with other hunters, I asked Nick what one of his scariest hunting memories was. He told me that elephant crop raiders were some of the most exciting hunts for him—extremely dangerous, but exciting!
He went on to tell the story of an elephant hunt. This is Nick’s story.
Warden and Professional Hunter, Nick Van Zyl, poses with his trusty rifle over problematic lions he culled. Photo/Nick Van Zyl
God always watched over me, so by His Grace, I am unscathed.
A Belgium client wounded a problem elephant one night, and two of my Rangers and I went searching for him. We picked up the track next to the Sand River and followed it through very thick bush. The spotlight's battery went bad, so we only had about a candle’s light left. We stopped every 5 feet to switch it off and listen for any heavy breathing or movement. After about a minute, we switched the light back on again, and for a few seconds, we had a bit more light to see until it dimmed.
By the guidance of the Holy spirit, we stopped—the injured behemoth was nearby. I knew we needed a minute for the battery to recover. I stood there for what felt like ages just to give the battery time. I put my hand over the shoulder of one of my rangers, Sergeant Philemon Nyathi, and he guided the spotlight to our left before I told him to switch it on.
My .458 rifle was off-safety and ready to fire, my hand over the trigger guard. As my heart pounded loudly in my chest, I prayed for God's protection over us in the sightless, pitch dark night. I told Sgt. Nyathi to switch on the lamp. With a very dim light, we saw no sign of the elephant. I stretched my hand out and tilted the light skywards. In the dull light, the three of us saw a ghost-like skeleton of an elephant’s head swaying in the air about 10 feet from us. The beast’s head was so unnaturally illuminated that my rangers thought it to be the apparition of the downed beast. I fired, and the leviathan went down just as the dim light faded again.
Nick Van Zyl and his son Shannon Van Zyl are both amazing professional hunters I’ve worked with and recommend. Photo/Nick Van Zyl
The blast of the shot blinded us until everything went dark. Faintly, I heard the elephant trying to stand. In the moonless sky, we couldn’t see him. We stood there in terror listening to the elephant swaying, trying to gain momentum to stand while we waited for our eyes to adjust to the pitch black.
It seemed an eternity passed before we tried the light again. Faintly, I could see the vague silhouette of the beast's head swinging. I took another shot, and again, the blast blinded me. We switched off the light and waited while the elephant tried to rise. I jumped to the left, where I thought the elephant was. I needed to finish him when the dim light returned. I told Nyathi to wait for the snapping of my fingers to try the light again. When I finally gave him the snap, Nyathi switched the lamp on, and I was only 3 feet from the beast’s head.
With one last shot, I was in dangerous territory. It was him or me. As the beast swung, I fired just as the light permanently extinguished. We had only a cigarette lighter to examine the fallen beast, so we retrieved the Land Cruiser and inspected the elephant with the headlights.
We realized the elephant had been standing next to a huge anthill. He had rested on it, and the anthill whitened his head so much that he looked ghostly in the dim light. The anthills in that part of the park are light gray and dusty like ash from a fire. I was convinced that this miracle protected us during this perilous hunt by illuminating the bull.
Nick Van Zyl poses with his rifle and a fellow hunter. Photo/Nick Van Zyl
This story confirms to me that men are made in Africa, and these guys, these amazing Professional Hunters, are tougher than the rest.
Contact me at beautyinthebeasts.stacy@gmail.com to set up a game hunt with Nick and his son Shannon.
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