A DREAM FULFILLED
by Mickey Roy

On Wednesday, March 31, Mickey and Judy awaken to the start of Mickey’s dream adventure. Mickey has a smile on his face, as Mickey would have put it, "like a Jackass eatin’ saw briars." They depart Birmingham at 5 am and arrive in Windhoek, Namibia the following day. They were met at the airport by Rudie, Mickey’s PH. Rudie explains that heavy rains the day before have washed out some roads; therefore the trip to Mt. Etjo Hunting Camp will take about 4 hours, rather than the usual 2 hours. On arrival in camp the exhausted couple sleep until about 1 pm after which Mickey sighted in his rifle and they went to the main lodge for some get-acquainted drinks with Jon and Annetta.

To ascertain Mickey’s shooting skills, Rudie suggested that they go get some meat for the table. Rudie soon learned that Mickey was an excellent shot with his 7mm-08. The first animal collected was an impala, which served as dinner that evening.
During the heat of the day, they enjoyed watching two hippos in the lake near the patio. A herd of impala can be seen feeding in an opening on the other side of the lake and there is a fish eagle nesting in one of the trees on the other side of the lake.
A report comes in of elephants being seen on a corner of the property. On the way to check out the elephants two white rhino are seen. Already early in the hunt quite a few indigenous animal species have been seen along with many of the birds common to that area.

The hunting vehicle is open with an elevated seat in the rear. Judy said the view from the elevated seat is great, but don’t open your mouth or you will catch your limit of bugs.

After lunch on about the fifth day, Mickey was taking a nap on a chaise on the patio. Judy was reading when she happened to see an ostrich feeding up the road toward them. The ostrich fed up to and around the pool and came up so close that Mickey could have touched it, had he been awake. If he had woke up about that time he would have stroked out.

Barnabus, one of the staff, reports seeing a snake in the dining room. Something most of us are not accustomed to dealing with.

After eight days of hunting Mickey had fired 7 shots with his 7mm-08 and collected 7 animals, 2 of which will probably make the Record Books. His shooting skills speak for themselves. Mickey had taken Impala, Gemsbok, Blue Wildebeest, Red Hartebeest, Springbok, Kudu and Blesbok.
Sunday, April 11, was Easter and no game was hunted. Hunting that day was limited to Easter egg hunting with the staff and their children.

On Monday, April 12, the staff had planned for an evening party to celebrate Mickey and Judy’s wedding anniversary. Mickey woke that morning and decided to sleep in for a while to rest up for the party that evening. Returning to the room later that morning, Judy discovered that Mickey had passed away in his sleep. She stated that he had a most peaceful expression on his face.
Who could have picked a more fitting ending to a wonderful life?

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