Huntinamibia - My Namibian Adventure - Mecklenburg Kudu – If you don't shoot him now, I'll shoot him
Namibia is widely regarded as Africa’s finest kudu country. And the kudu in turn is regarded by many as the number one of the world’s antelope trophies. Here is the story about a kudu that surely qualifies as anybody's number-one trophy.
In 1976 a photograph was published in a Windhoek daily depicting one Colonel Whitney-Ashbridge next to a huge kudu bull he had taken on Farm Mecklenburg near Seeis. The trophy of that kudu struck many of those who saw it as being not only big but also perhaps the most beautiful pair of kudu horns they had ever seen.
Colonel Ashbridge was a client of well-known ANVO Safaris, owned by NAPHA pioneer, Volker Grellmann. In those early days of Namibian trophy hunting, Grellmann sent clients to farms all over Namibia. In this way Ashbridge came to hunt on Farm Mecklenburg owned by Hans Denk, another pioneer in Namibian trophy hunting and founding member of the Professional Hunters Association. Thus it was Hans Denk who guided Colonel Ashbridge when he shot that magnificent kudu.
Hans Denk, who for a long time also held the world record trophy of a Cape hartebeest (now No 2 in Rowland Ward’s Record of Big Game), is remembered by those close to him for the tenderness underneath his rugged outer appearance and for his great heart. To all others he had a formidable appearance, standing 6 foot 6 inches tall, and was a man of indisputable authority. He took, as the saying goes, ‘no nonsense from no one’.
Farm Mecklenburg is located east of Windhoek in the central highlands of Namibia, and a most pleasant landscape it is. The terrain is broken, even mountainous in parts, with beautiful valleys, rocky outcrops and stony ridges. It is kudu country par excellence and the heart of Namibia’s hartebeest country.
The exact details of that kudu hunt in 1976 are lost in the mists of time, for Hans Denk passed away in 1989. Only fragments remain, remembered by a nephew of Hans Denk, then fifteen years old, who sat amongst a group of people on the veranda of Mecklenburg when the photograph of Ashbridge’s kudu was handed around and the story told. The beauty of the animal in the photograph inspired the youngster: the kudu was heavy-necked, one foreleg outstretched, highlighting the almost dainty hooves, and the horns – simply marvellous! This photograph and the words of Hans Denk, “Yes, he is good, and if you don’t shoot him now, I will shoot him,” burned forever in the nephew’s memory.
From the story told it could be deduced that the two colonels (for Hans Denk also held this rank) did not always get along that well. Seemingly Ashbridge was a difficult client, of a type known to all professional hunters. Over and over again, when Denk selected a fine trophy and pointed it out to his client to shoot, Ashbridge argued the point, wanting to make sure that the trophy was really big. For this reason a number of big kudu bulls got away. It was at times like these that Anita Denk, Hans’s wife, was in demand. It is said that Anita with her charm played a considerable role in the overall flair and success of Mecklenburg, for whenever Hans was frosty after a client had bungled a stalk or dared to question his authority, she exuded warmth and cleared the atmosphere.
After several days the hunters came onto that incredible kudu, which had already become suspicious and was staring at them. When Denk whispered to Ashbridge to shoot quickly, Ashbridge posed the totally superfluous question – for the kudu appeared huge and magnificent beyond words, the evenly matched horns spiralling outwards in a way that is seldom seen – “Is he good?” Denk hissed, “Yes he’s good, and if you don’t shoot him now, I’ll shoot him.” To this Ashbridge, biting onto his moustache, got into gear, lifted the rifle and downed the bull. The scene can be imagined vividly by all those knowing the setup. The hunting party, Hans Denk and his right-hand man and tracker Ephraim and Ashbridge, returned to the farmstead, Anita and the Denk children pouring out of the farmhouse to surround that unbelievable kudu, touching the horns in disbelief, laughter and exuberance all round.
And the atmosphere of the evening, a tasty meal served, a bottle of good wine opened, the ice now broken between the colonels – except perhaps for an occasional sarcastic remark by Hans Denk about the big ones that got away. And the dry reply by Ashbridge that in this way he, after all, got what he wanted: a truly outstanding kudu bull.
The length and symmetry of this full three-curler and the thick mass of the horns were crowned with the Jägerverein medal of the Windhoek Trophy Show in 1974. Colonel Whitney-Ashbridge, then 70, from Washington, USA, was a client of ANVO Hunting Safaris and hunted with Hans Denk on the farm Mecklenburg. Measuring today would place the trophy in the 61–62 inch class.
