Big game hunting
OUTSIDE of Gov. Chavit Singson, I am not aware of any other Filipino big game hunter. But in the case of Chavit, he epitomizes what big game hunting is all about.
This sport is defined as hunting for large game animals for trophies, taxidermy, meat, and by-products like horns, tusks, fur, and antlers and there is a recognized Africa’s Big Five in big game hunting; a lion, elephant, cape buffalo, rhinoceros, and leopard.
And Chavit has accomplished this already in his over 30 years of hunting all over the world, and more as he also successfully hunted black, brown and white polar bears, impalas, hippopotamus, giraffes, crocodiles, and many others.
He even had them taxidermied , spending millions of pesos for this and are on display in his museum in Baluarte in Ilocos Sur where he developed an open park zoo and brought live animals for people to enjoy.
I had the chance to stay overnight in Baluarte and I saw for myself this tourist attraction built by Gov. Chavit for the local folks, and I saw for myself the museum where many of the Governor’s trophy animals are favorite backdrops for selfies by visitors.
We stayed at the Safari Hotel and there, you see deer just walking around freely that you can even meet them when you go out of the hotel villas.
He had to wait two years before he was able to bring home the elephant he shot , not to mention the amount of money spent for the hunt itself.
At his age now, he still plans to do more hunting, not as often as before but in his bucket list is to hunt wild mountain goats in Kyrgystan in Central Asia.
In the past, he has been to Africa a lot of times, in both North and South America, Asia,Europe, Australia , New Zealand, all the way to the North Pole for his polar bear.
He certainly has gone a long way from where he started this passion as he used to hunt small animals in the forests of Ilocos Sur, his home province, until someone suggested he tries hunting abroad.
I was fortunate that I had the opportunity to do a face to face interview with Gov. Chavit right at his home in Corinthian Gardens recently, with the help of PSC Commissioner Fritz Gaston who went with me to the Governor’s residence
And it was a very interesting inter action as Gov. Chavit shared a lot of experiential hunting stories, like the time he was hunting a leopard , for that particular animal, it had to be done at night, and it took several nights actually before he could take his shot.
That was his hardest hunt, said the Governor.
Or, his guide in hunting elephants, the easiest to hunt according to him because you cannot miss that big a target, but if the animal is with the herd, you need to shoot him in the lungs, otherwise,it has to be a brain shot at a closer distance, maybe 30 to 45 feet away.
He also remembered the time he had to jump off from a hovering chopper to reach a certain hunting ground as there was nowhere for it to land.
Sometimes, bringing home the animals takes even longer as in the case of the elephant mentioned earlier.
He recalled the time he wanted to bring here 6 giraffe yearlings, it was taking too long that he ended up chartering one Boeing 777 and added more animals, a total of 27 giraffe yearlings in fact.
But he says the biggest fulfillment in his chosen sport is when he hits a moving target, that he considers that as the biggest challenge in big game hunting.
I also asked what else is left if any in terms of what he still wants to hunt.
With a playful smile, he said maybe he should hunt for dracula or a werewolf.
By the way, for me, the best part of that interview was the chance to meet Blackjack, a rare black leopard that Gov. Chavit adopted as a cub and reared the animal in his house.
Blackjack is now a full grown animal who is allowed to roam the house though when there are visitors, Gov. Chavit allows him to go around but with a leash.
And yes, one can pet this magnificent animal as Fritz and I did while it was lying down on top of a table. I also asked the Governor if Blackjack bites, and got a funny reply, telling me that if that happens, I should bite back.
Believe me, that is something I cannot even imagine doing what was suggested.
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