Last week, we left the author perched in an ebano tree overlooking a waterhole in tropical Mexico on the first of 10 consecutive nights, listening to the night noises of the jungle and straining to hear a jaguar drinking.

In January of 1964 I received exciting news. One of my scouts in Mexico had evidence of a jaguar drinking regularly at a certain jungle waterhole. In those days my Jeep Wagoneer pretty much stayed fueled and loaded for Mexico.

After having begun this occasional series with the African pangolin, I’m having second thoughts: for sheer, all-around weirdness, the pangolin is a tough act to follow. Still, there are different kinds of weird, so let’s have a look at the situtunga, an African antelope of which I’m told some Hill Country game ranches have a few specimens.

Among the most interesting things about hunting in foreign lands are some of the really outlandish animals one meets. These are not necessarily game animals that a hunter is there to shoot, although some do fit that description.

Many hunters scorn exotic game animals on grounds that they’re not “sporting,” meaning, I suppose that they’re too tame to be a real challenge. It may be true of some exotics, but definitely not all.

Back in the 1930s, nine-year-old boys with imagination and a flair for the dramatic were wont to assume superhero personas (and costumes) and go about the neighborhood rescuing damsels, battling evildoers, and generally standing up for truth and justice.

As one who takes a certain pride in eating whatever I shoot, I find myself on the horns of a dilemma relative to turkey gobblers. I am not necessarily a hunter of trophy turkeys, being willing to settle for whichever long-beard comes to the call. I also take pride, however, in fooling big old mature toms and generally give jakes a free pass.

Much controversy exists about which type of gun is proper for spring gobbler hunting.

Most kinds of hunting involve a lot of waiting. The best thing about this fact is that the waiting is mostly done in some very pleasant places — autumn woods, near stock tanks in dove season, and in blinds on the bays, rice fields and river bottoms frequented by waterfowl, for a few examples.

Ruining a good deer stand is easy. I used to do it without even knowing it. You can do it in about three days, simply by using it too much.