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Mark Freeman Commentary Lucky hunter bags African safari By MARK FREEMAN A sea of feeling-lucky hunters stood before Bill Kirk, who knew one would walk out of the Oregon Hunters Association meeting last Thursday with the trip of a lifetime. In Kirk's hand was the winning ticket for a $10,000 hunting safari for two this summer in South Africa. Ninety-nine other numbered tickets remained in the peanut jar, ready to be matched with 99 nonwinners in the raffle sponsored by the OHA's Rogue Valley Chapter. Kirk decided to make them sweat. Those with ticket numbers over 80, he said, should sit down. Those under 40 and over 60 could join them, too. Valmire Albert of Central Point sat down, believing his dream of bagging an African impala would remain just that. But no, son Valton Albert told his 83-year-old dad, your ticket is in the 40s. You're still in the hunt. The elder Albert stood back up next to his son, and watched as everyone eventually frowned and sat down until only the Alberts remained standing. Kirk lifted his eyes to his friend. "He's kind of pale, anyway," Kirk recalled. "His lip was trembling. I said, `It's you, Val."' And with that the elder Albert won the African hunt of a lifetime and a chance to bring home that elusive impala. He will take his son, 53-year-old Val Albert, with him to a private South African ranch in June to hunt wildebeests, warthogs and more. For the retired furniture upholsterer and owner of a second-hand store, the trip is the fulfillment of a safari desire Albert deemed too elusive a dream. "I never figured I'd have enough money," Albert said before scurrying down to the post office on Tuesday to get his passport photo taken. "I never figured I'd be able to go." But he will go. The two men received $4,000 for air fare, and will get a week's worth of hunting to bag six animals on a sprawling savannah ranch. Albert hopes to shoot just one: an impala -- the animal, not the car. The animal impala, Aepyceros melampus, exemplifies the grace and fragility of Africa. It is a fast-running antelope inhabiting the grass and woodlands of south and central Africa, usually in herds of 200 or more. The fragility is in its slender, muscular body that can leap 30 feet long and 10 feet high -- but is also the common prey of lions, tigers and other predators depicted in Discovery Channel animal-eats-animal films. It's about 5 feet tall and 165 pounds. The male's long, lyre-shaped horns are as decidedly African as zebras and giraffes. Perhaps these last two facts -- small stature and graceful horns -- is why the elder Albert hopes to adorn his Central Point home with one such specimen. "It's sort of a little animal," Albert says. "And I don't have the room for a big mount." His safari, however, comes with permission to shoot two more animals if he pleases. But Albert said one impala will please him plenty. "I don't know if I'll go for any more," Albert says. "I just want to see the country." The trip mirrors a similar safari that OHA members bought last year for Kirk, a Medford man who has been heavily involved in the association for the past decade. Kirk took a warthog, a wildebeest and a Mountain Reed buck during his stay in South Africa last June. Upon his return, Kirk set up a trip for '99 and has used it as a fund-raiser. It received immense support among local hunters, who scarfed up the 100 tickets that each sold for $100. The Alberts each bought one ticket, thinking this was their best shot at breaking away from the deer-elk-antelope hunting experiences typical for Southern Oregon big-game hunters. But one Albert ticket could be considered a bit luckier than your average ticket. The elder Albert has fared well in raffles over the year, once winning a prize he can't remember, except for the fact that it was worth $4,000. The two men attended the OHA chapter meeting Jan. 14 at J.J. North's Grand Buffet, where Kirk held court. The 100 tickets were all stuffed in a large peanut jar, which many members took turns shaking. OHA Board Chairman Bob Webber, of Medford, drew the winning ticket from the jar, then handed the stub over to Kirk. That's when Kirk dragged out the suspense. He said the winner was in the room and that all the raffle participants should stand. Kirk whittled the field down by revealing more and more details about the winner's ticket number. "Pretty soon," the senior Albert said, "it was just me and (the younger Albert) standing." And soon after that, it was just the elder Val Albert, who got the nod from his friend Kirk. "I told him he's going to Africa," Kirk said. "And he just kind of grinned." (Staff writer Mark Freeman covers the outdoors for the Mail Tribune. Call him at 776-4470.) Outdoor Journal main page Mail Tribune Copyright � interRogue & The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA