- Joined
- Dec 12, 2011
- Messages
- 6,194
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- NRA life, DSC, SCI
- Hunted
- Minnesota, Texas, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, British Columbia, Argentina, Kansas, Macedonia, Australia, Tanzania, Iceland
I really wanted to hunt a lion this year and spent a lot of time researching. Really was looking for the best "hunt" I could find, not necessarily the biggest lion. There was a post a while ago discussing lions and based on what I had been told, I think I commented that there were no real wild lion hunts in RSA. Ernest from Spear Safaris responded that he had wild lions in his area adjacent to Kruger. So I corresponded with Ernest and then went to meet him at DSC and booked a 14 day hunt to include one of the two lions he had in his area as well as a buffalo and a bunch of PG.
We arranged travel with Lori and took the flight through Washington DC with a refuel in Dakar and on to Joberg for an overnight at Africa Sky and had them meet us at the airport with rifle permits. That all went very well except for the miserable long time on the plane. The other two times we went over, we had 12 and 15 hour layovers in Paris and my wife prefers that. But the Africa Sky rep met us at the airport and we had a great meal, good sleep and nice breakfast and were retuned and helped to check back in. The only hiccup was at the end of the trip we had a couple bags stolen including nothing irreplaceable other than Ann's notebook from the hunt. (mostly our hunting boots, gaiters, and some dirty clothes)
When Africa Sky was called to email the permits so we could leave, they only succeeded in getting Ann's application through. However we were able to connect with Henry at Rifle Permits and he had two reps at the airport anyway and one of them met us and helped us get new permits so it worked out.
We actually arrived at 1PM the day before the hunt was to begin but Ernest took us out to get some bait that evening! Saw buffalo right away including a very close 40" immature bull staring at us from the bushes.
Came across a group of baboons in a large power line tower settling in for the night... With a herd of impala and zebra underneath. So a challenging stalk but I got a shot off at a zebra but hit it in the neck and it went down but ended up getting back up and I got one more in on the run but too far back. Well Jock, Ernest's young blood spoor dog ( a short hair pointer) came to the rescue and soon had the zebra at bay, right at the limit of what my lungs could take running through the forest. Got another shot into it but high as I did not want to hit the dog, the zebra ran a bit further and a finisher in the chest and it was all over except to cut a road in to retrieve it. It was dark by and the time we had the retrieval done so took it back to camp to skin it and then went to hang it the nest morning.
When we drove out in the morning we found lion tracks right away! The excitement level was way up as John the tracker got on front to watch the track.
As John pointed out the tracks and directed Ernest to turn at an intersection, we headed up towards a pan with water and I saw a lion run across the road! Ernest stopped and John just kind of melted off the front bumper and appeared in the back with me. A second lion was in the bushes and then followed the first but he was limping badly. Before I had booked the hunt Ernest had sent me trail cam pictures of these lions but they were both healthy at that time. He though they might have gone out into Kruger and been in a fight trying to take over a pride.... But I wonder if they attacked a buffalo and the one got hurt that way. The injured one was thin but seemed to be surviving with help from the other. Definitely a coalition between the pair.
We were in Ernest favorite hunting truck which is an older Land Cruiser with the cab removed. Ann was in front (without a door or any windows) and I was on the back up on the high seat so I saw the lions better but she did get that picture. I was able to see both lions very well and had them in my scope and was ready to get down and try to shoot one but Ernest said to hold off as the manes were in such bad condition. These cats were stressed and showed it. The hunt could have been over in the first half hour of the first day but Ernest said we should hang the bait and cameras and get better look at them. He was not happy with these cats representing him and his company and I think he was actually disappointed that it had been so easy to find them. So we hung the bait and as we drove off, I looked back to see them already crossing the road and heading to the bait.
We arranged travel with Lori and took the flight through Washington DC with a refuel in Dakar and on to Joberg for an overnight at Africa Sky and had them meet us at the airport with rifle permits. That all went very well except for the miserable long time on the plane. The other two times we went over, we had 12 and 15 hour layovers in Paris and my wife prefers that. But the Africa Sky rep met us at the airport and we had a great meal, good sleep and nice breakfast and were retuned and helped to check back in. The only hiccup was at the end of the trip we had a couple bags stolen including nothing irreplaceable other than Ann's notebook from the hunt. (mostly our hunting boots, gaiters, and some dirty clothes)
When Africa Sky was called to email the permits so we could leave, they only succeeded in getting Ann's application through. However we were able to connect with Henry at Rifle Permits and he had two reps at the airport anyway and one of them met us and helped us get new permits so it worked out.
We actually arrived at 1PM the day before the hunt was to begin but Ernest took us out to get some bait that evening! Saw buffalo right away including a very close 40" immature bull staring at us from the bushes.
Came across a group of baboons in a large power line tower settling in for the night... With a herd of impala and zebra underneath. So a challenging stalk but I got a shot off at a zebra but hit it in the neck and it went down but ended up getting back up and I got one more in on the run but too far back. Well Jock, Ernest's young blood spoor dog ( a short hair pointer) came to the rescue and soon had the zebra at bay, right at the limit of what my lungs could take running through the forest. Got another shot into it but high as I did not want to hit the dog, the zebra ran a bit further and a finisher in the chest and it was all over except to cut a road in to retrieve it. It was dark by and the time we had the retrieval done so took it back to camp to skin it and then went to hang it the nest morning.
When we drove out in the morning we found lion tracks right away! The excitement level was way up as John the tracker got on front to watch the track.
As John pointed out the tracks and directed Ernest to turn at an intersection, we headed up towards a pan with water and I saw a lion run across the road! Ernest stopped and John just kind of melted off the front bumper and appeared in the back with me. A second lion was in the bushes and then followed the first but he was limping badly. Before I had booked the hunt Ernest had sent me trail cam pictures of these lions but they were both healthy at that time. He though they might have gone out into Kruger and been in a fight trying to take over a pride.... But I wonder if they attacked a buffalo and the one got hurt that way. The injured one was thin but seemed to be surviving with help from the other. Definitely a coalition between the pair.
We were in Ernest favorite hunting truck which is an older Land Cruiser with the cab removed. Ann was in front (without a door or any windows) and I was on the back up on the high seat so I saw the lions better but she did get that picture. I was able to see both lions very well and had them in my scope and was ready to get down and try to shoot one but Ernest said to hold off as the manes were in such bad condition. These cats were stressed and showed it. The hunt could have been over in the first half hour of the first day but Ernest said we should hang the bait and cameras and get better look at them. He was not happy with these cats representing him and his company and I think he was actually disappointed that it had been so easy to find them. So we hung the bait and as we drove off, I looked back to see them already crossing the road and heading to the bait.