From college student to PH
Story by Lili Keys, Lone Star Outdoor News
You wouldn’t expect a college student to suspend her education plans to become a professional hunter in Africa, but for Reese Ferguson, a hunt for the elusive kudu led her down an unexpected path.
The kudu was top on the list for Ferguson’s first trip to Africa with her father, Rue.
On the last day of the hunt, she got it done and the grey ghost dropped mostly submerged in a river which ran between a deep ravine. Ferguson and her guide, Dewyk, of Red Sands Safaris, waded into the frigid waters and swam the kudu down- river where they could pull it onto dry land. The whole camp had come out to watch the unusual retrieve.
It was a bonding experience with her PH and a moment Ferguson couldn’t get out of her mind.
“That was the experience where I knew, OK, I want to do this for a living,” she said. “I knew I wanted to be in the hunting industry. That trip to Africa was the best experience of my life.”
Ferguson was raised in South Texas hunting with her father near San Antonio.
“I grew up on ranches, hunting with my dad,” Ferguson said. “Our time spent hunting was our time to bond and I just loved it.”
The end of the month-long trip to South Africa with her father came and went. Ferguson found herself at Baylor University, studying archaeology but yet feeling unfulfilled.
“I felt like I had another purpose and I knew I wanted to incorporate hunting into my career somehow,” she said.
Halfway through her sophomore year, Ferguson still had that urge to do something different. One day, she searched “The best hunting schools in the world” and found The Northern Cape Professional Hunting School in Vanderkloof, South Africa.
Ferguson applied and was accepted into the program, but she waited until after she was accepted before telling her parents she would be moving to Africa for a seven-month professional hunting program.
“I was the only American who had ever attended the school,” Ferguson declared proudly.
Ferguson was one of two females in the 20-person course and quickly learned Afrikaans to keep up with the lessons. They spent countless hours in the field, studying, learning the plants and animals, aging and scoring animals, tracking, hunting and even running up mountains for physical fitness. Between courses, the students had multiple week breaks. Ferguson took advantage by working as an assistant guide, getting her scuba certification and traveling around the massive continent.
After she had graduated, Ferguson stayed in Africa a few months before returning to Texas.
She hunted more than 20 animals during that time, not including the ones from her previous trip.
“I think my favorite has to be the Cape buffalo,” she said. “I shot it at 20 meters. You could smell him, I was so close. You really can’t get better than that.”
Many people who have hunted in Africa might have a zebra rug in their home. Ferguson has one that she skinned herself.
“I hunted a Hartman’s Zebra in the mountains of the Northern Cape,” she said. “It was freezing cold and I didn’t have shoes on because we were trying to be so quiet. But when we found a small herd between these mountains and I was able to take him, it was one of the best experiences. It was such a hard hunt, but the reward was amazing.”
Ferguson and her PH, Dewyk, remain friends and Ferguson got the chance to guide alongside him during her training on the dark continent.
What’s next for this new and unusual PH?
“For the next few years, I plan on spending my time studying conservation and hunting, making myself the best hunter and PH that I can be,” Ferguson said. “I would love to have a TV show someday, but I have a lot of work to do before I would even be able to get there. So for now, I’m hunting on the ranch with dad, and plan to hunt an aoudad soon.”
