383: Tracking Buffalo Like Your Life Depends On It

Though I’ve interviewed plenty of great Professional Hunters over the years, you don’t hear from many trackers in podcast interviews for various reasons. That changes in this episode where I sit down with Pheilemon Mathoko, one of our trackers in South Africa. He is one of the best, if not the best trackers I’ve ever had the privilege to work with. He and I discuss how to tell whether a track is old or now, how he can identify a particular bull out of a herd containing dozens of animals, how he can learn more about the wound an animal has suffered just from looking at their tracks, and much more.

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In this episode of The Big Game Hunting Podcast, host John McAdams sits down with Pheilemon Mathoko, one of our trackers in South Africa.

They discuss how to tell how old a track is, how he can identify a particular bull track out of a herd of dozens of other animals, how different animals behave at different times of day and how he can pick up clues to what they’re doing and thinking from their tracks, and of course, some of the finer points on tracking wounded animals and how he can learn more about the wounds an animal has suffered from looking at their tracks, how that information informs his decisions on how to proceed on the track, and much more. 

Their takeaway? A skilled tracker like Philemon can read the bush or tracks on the ground like a book and is a vital part of any safari camp.

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Resources

Ep 377: Charging Cape Buffalo & Hunting Kudu In The Snow – Interview with Kobus Kok (one of my South African PHs) referenced in episode.

Ep 356: PH Interview-French Foreign Legion to surrounded by crocs in a rowboat – Interview with Johan Seyffert (one of my South African PHs) referenced in episode.