8-30 SS Hexxy Hippo

 Dennis Hextall grew up in Manitoba, Canada and was a highly respected pro hockey player who spent most of his career with the Minnesota North Stars and Detroit Red Wings. I had the pleasure of playing with Hexxy, as he is known, in a hockey tournament several years ago. I learned that he made money throughout high school and college as a hunting and fishing guide. As so many of us do, he learned from his dad and as great a hockey player as he is, he’s an equally accomplished sportsman. Here’s a story about a hippo hunt in Africa you won’t believe. “I was up in Mozambique on the Zambezi River. I have hunted the day before and we had about four guys in a 16 foot boat which I did not like. We had about a 6 inch ripple on the water so now you have everybody in the boat and  you are trying to sneak up on the herd where you are actually sitting amongst them and they can flip the boat pretty easily. In my books we didn’t need that many people and I’m not comfortable swinging a gun around with people and the boat so I was uncomfortable. Next day we went and saw a herd by one of the islands. We dumped the boat but we were in along the bank and then we jump in the Zambezi River wading barefoot and of course you’ve got crocs coming off of the bank and I’m going Holy!!! What’s going on? Eventually we got up to about 75 yards from the animals and you are really shooting at a tennis ball, you have to brain them, if you don’t brai them you don’t get them. We waited until we had a decent shot, you want them to come up so they are looking right at you so you shoot them between the eyes.”