IvW
AH ambassador
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2016
- Messages
- 6,491
- Reaction score
- 15,652
- Location
- South Africa
- Media
- 68
- Articles
- 3
- Member of
- BASA, CHASA
- Hunted
- South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Botswana, Namibia,Zambia
Lion on two occasions.
When I started as an apprentice PH, I was the camp gofer and I lived on the outfitters farm which was(33000 acres) in Zim. He had many cattle on this ranch, basically free range and also quite a few horses we used to herd cattle with. Leopards were a constant problem as they took more than their fair share of calves and foals. Part of my tasks between hunts was to bait and hunt these cats. I shot 7 over a period of 2 years(with a 308 Win which had a mauser action and a cut down FN browning machine gun barrel!!). Affectionately known as the "Fun gun"!
One morning after some rain the previous night, as we approached a bait we had put up for a troublesome leopard, me and a tracker spotted some fresh tracks. I looked at these and still learning about these things, commented to the tracker that this had to be a monster leopard! He went a bit ashen in the face and said Shumba!
I got very excited!
I had a hard time convincing him that we should continue to the bait. He had recognised a telltale sign in her track. It turned out being a very large old lioness that had being wounded in the right paw by another cattle protecting rancher in the area about 8 months before. The wound had healed, but left a distinct paw print. This lioness had built up a mythical reputation and the locals were petrified of her. She would take cattle, goats and foals at random. We kept the bait going and systematically built a blind inside a tree off the ground about 50 meters away.
I eventually sat in the blind by myself as the trackers refused, and manage to shoot this lioness. Nothing came of promises to collect me after they heard the shot. Even after I fired more shots to make sure they heard them, they did not arrive. It started raining again and eventually I was forced to get out of the tree blind and walk to the ranch house in the pitch darkness and rain. It was a long walk and I arrived well after midnight.
The other was on a PG hunt. I was sneaking around the bush with a client when we bumped into a large male lion! He was aggressive and despite our best efforts to sneak away quietly and slowly he kept following us, swishing his tail all the time and growling at us. The area we were in was very densely vegetated and it took us a while to get rid of him.
There were not supposed to be any lions on the farm. We reported this to the authorities and we were requested to shoot the lion if we encountered it again as they had reports from neighbouring properties regarding this lion and it's aggressive behaviour.
We promptly returned to the area and searched for the lion, not long we had fresh tracks. Again it turned into a cat and mouse game, with the lion doubling back a few times and us ending up tracking over our own tracks a few times with the lion tracks over our tracks! We got concerned as we were not sure who was now tracking who!
We finally got an opportunity and ended this cat and mouse game.
This lion had also been shot at before and had shrapnel in its jaw, which had completely healed, embedding the pieces of copper jacket and lead in his jaw. Undoubtedly the reason for his aggressive behaviour.
Long time ago, but magnificent times!
When I started as an apprentice PH, I was the camp gofer and I lived on the outfitters farm which was(33000 acres) in Zim. He had many cattle on this ranch, basically free range and also quite a few horses we used to herd cattle with. Leopards were a constant problem as they took more than their fair share of calves and foals. Part of my tasks between hunts was to bait and hunt these cats. I shot 7 over a period of 2 years(with a 308 Win which had a mauser action and a cut down FN browning machine gun barrel!!). Affectionately known as the "Fun gun"!
One morning after some rain the previous night, as we approached a bait we had put up for a troublesome leopard, me and a tracker spotted some fresh tracks. I looked at these and still learning about these things, commented to the tracker that this had to be a monster leopard! He went a bit ashen in the face and said Shumba!
I got very excited!
I had a hard time convincing him that we should continue to the bait. He had recognised a telltale sign in her track. It turned out being a very large old lioness that had being wounded in the right paw by another cattle protecting rancher in the area about 8 months before. The wound had healed, but left a distinct paw print. This lioness had built up a mythical reputation and the locals were petrified of her. She would take cattle, goats and foals at random. We kept the bait going and systematically built a blind inside a tree off the ground about 50 meters away.
I eventually sat in the blind by myself as the trackers refused, and manage to shoot this lioness. Nothing came of promises to collect me after they heard the shot. Even after I fired more shots to make sure they heard them, they did not arrive. It started raining again and eventually I was forced to get out of the tree blind and walk to the ranch house in the pitch darkness and rain. It was a long walk and I arrived well after midnight.
The other was on a PG hunt. I was sneaking around the bush with a client when we bumped into a large male lion! He was aggressive and despite our best efforts to sneak away quietly and slowly he kept following us, swishing his tail all the time and growling at us. The area we were in was very densely vegetated and it took us a while to get rid of him.
There were not supposed to be any lions on the farm. We reported this to the authorities and we were requested to shoot the lion if we encountered it again as they had reports from neighbouring properties regarding this lion and it's aggressive behaviour.
We promptly returned to the area and searched for the lion, not long we had fresh tracks. Again it turned into a cat and mouse game, with the lion doubling back a few times and us ending up tracking over our own tracks a few times with the lion tracks over our tracks! We got concerned as we were not sure who was now tracking who!
We finally got an opportunity and ended this cat and mouse game.
This lion had also been shot at before and had shrapnel in its jaw, which had completely healed, embedding the pieces of copper jacket and lead in his jaw. Undoubtedly the reason for his aggressive behaviour.
Long time ago, but magnificent times!
