No not at allCharismatic Megafauna said:
Which is odd because don't leopards kill a lot more people than lions?
Africa
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Thunder18 said:
Who nailed the call on the simba kill celebration from the earlier pic?
TAMU77CLAY said:No not at allCharismatic Megafauna said:
Which is odd because don't leopards kill a lot more people than lions?
Hippos kill the most. Watch out for those hippos.
We had gone up the main N-S trail to check the three baits up there towards Chinsembwe. One of the game scouts had said he'd seen big lion tracks near the village, so we went up there to check those out and inspect the baits. We were sure the Spring leopard bait would be hit. We needed a warthog that we could split and refresh that bait and the West boundary bait. The East boundary bait; or the elephant infested bait, was good and we were seriously considering abandoning it anyway due to safety concerns. These are the 3 main leopard baits. The Two lion baits up there were placed to catch the lions following the buffalo herds that were moving from the S towards the River N. We had seem them cross the trail into the Pan area the day before.
The Lion tracks turned out to be female, a big female, but female. Most of the Scouts as I mentioned are not Professionals...so they are kind of like me when they see a track..."BIG TRACK Bwana!! " We then checked the two lion baits first...nothing...and we were looking for a Warthog but didn't see one on the way up or anywhere along the road where we would expect. We got off the main trail and took one that follows the dry riverbed; we saw a warthog and spent 15 minutes being outsmarted by it. That was all the warthog action we came upon all morning. The Spring bait had not been hit...disappointing...so we headed back toward camp and to inspect the E baits and get that warthog; or now even an Impala since we didn't need to refresh the Spring bait.
We got to the Pan and again, no Warthog. The Pan here is a dry part of the Luangwa flood plain. The ground is a cracked jigsaw of dried hard black mud now...the hippos and elephants make it an uneven mess to walk on and especially drive on...one or two KPH is max speed or the guys get thrown off the back of the truck as it lists, yaws and pitches. We turned off the main trail and drove towards the pan because you can count on it having warthog in the places where there's any moisture left. We'd gone 50 - 100 yds and didn't see hogs...(had good warthog schnitzel by the way after the last warthog). But Alastair pointed left about 100 yds and there were two female lions looking at us. All we could see were two females and then a third stood and whirled and went behind the bush behind them. All I saw was the back half...the animal was standing behind the bush.
We glassed for a bit and Alastair thought it was a male. We moved the vehicle off the trail onto the dried mud flat. I was carrying my gun because we had been looking for animals to shoot and didn't want to hand it up and down every time we got off the vehicle to track one. On the mud flat, I had to hold the gun in one hand and the handle on the dash to keep from getting thrown about. We were now maybe 50 yds from the lions and the two females stared at us and the one behind the bush crouched down. We had a bad viewing angle (to their West), tried to get a better one by moving back and forth roughly the same distance away and then drove at an angle slightly away from them and around to their South side. When we go there we saw another female lion and the tail of the one we thought was a male. At that point we started to drive closer....
The Lion tracks turned out to be female, a big female, but female. Most of the Scouts as I mentioned are not Professionals...so they are kind of like me when they see a track..."BIG TRACK Bwana!! " We then checked the two lion baits first...nothing...and we were looking for a Warthog but didn't see one on the way up or anywhere along the road where we would expect. We got off the main trail and took one that follows the dry riverbed; we saw a warthog and spent 15 minutes being outsmarted by it. That was all the warthog action we came upon all morning. The Spring bait had not been hit...disappointing...so we headed back toward camp and to inspect the E baits and get that warthog; or now even an Impala since we didn't need to refresh the Spring bait.
We got to the Pan and again, no Warthog. The Pan here is a dry part of the Luangwa flood plain. The ground is a cracked jigsaw of dried hard black mud now...the hippos and elephants make it an uneven mess to walk on and especially drive on...one or two KPH is max speed or the guys get thrown off the back of the truck as it lists, yaws and pitches. We turned off the main trail and drove towards the pan because you can count on it having warthog in the places where there's any moisture left. We'd gone 50 - 100 yds and didn't see hogs...(had good warthog schnitzel by the way after the last warthog). But Alastair pointed left about 100 yds and there were two female lions looking at us. All we could see were two females and then a third stood and whirled and went behind the bush behind them. All I saw was the back half...the animal was standing behind the bush.
We glassed for a bit and Alastair thought it was a male. We moved the vehicle off the trail onto the dried mud flat. I was carrying my gun because we had been looking for animals to shoot and didn't want to hand it up and down every time we got off the vehicle to track one. On the mud flat, I had to hold the gun in one hand and the handle on the dash to keep from getting thrown about. We were now maybe 50 yds from the lions and the two females stared at us and the one behind the bush crouched down. We had a bad viewing angle (to their West), tried to get a better one by moving back and forth roughly the same distance away and then drove at an angle slightly away from them and around to their South side. When we go there we saw another female lion and the tail of the one we thought was a male. At that point we started to drive closer....
As we got closer the female that was behind the bush stood up and moved out into the open. The other animal stood up, faced us and crouched back down. 75% obscured by the bush. You could see the head clearly and some of the shoulder. It was a male. He had three pickets out in front of the bush to our right laying down and yawning. I began to get a shooting position set up on the dash. Barrel resting on the dash, elbow on my right knee...very solid. 30 yds.
Then it comes down to aging the animal. Alastair and Peter went back and forth on the criteria and what else they needed to see. Alastair came up with 6 years pretty quickly...(UPDATE: he's now aged it between 6 and 7) he wanted a better view of the teeth and the male obliged. Me, I'm focusing on trying to find his near shoulder in the bush. I could see his lower right leg and paw (island sized paw as Jimmy Buffet would have called it) but the shoulder would have been a guess based on what I could see of his head and leg. A quick discussion; we were ready to shoot. It was now a waiting game to get enough of the male to be confident in the right shot.
I don't really know how much time went by. We were out in the open. The animals were in the shade. It had come into the usual hot part of the day close to 11:00 am. Sweat was running down, well, everywhere. It felt like 30 minutes to me looking in the scope...it was probably closer to 5.
Then it comes down to aging the animal. Alastair and Peter went back and forth on the criteria and what else they needed to see. Alastair came up with 6 years pretty quickly...(UPDATE: he's now aged it between 6 and 7) he wanted a better view of the teeth and the male obliged. Me, I'm focusing on trying to find his near shoulder in the bush. I could see his lower right leg and paw (island sized paw as Jimmy Buffet would have called it) but the shoulder would have been a guess based on what I could see of his head and leg. A quick discussion; we were ready to shoot. It was now a waiting game to get enough of the male to be confident in the right shot.
I don't really know how much time went by. We were out in the open. The animals were in the shade. It had come into the usual hot part of the day close to 11:00 am. Sweat was running down, well, everywhere. It felt like 30 minutes to me looking in the scope...it was probably closer to 5.
SHOOT!! SHOOT!!!
Epic!!
Alastair said "this could take all day. Let's make this happen". He started the truck. Now, I was engaged in a major stare-down with the male. When the engine started he loaded his haunches, his chin went down, his head pulled in close to his shoulders, and his eyes narrowed. Me, well I, I don't mind saying I think his Kung-fu was superior to mine at that point. Stare-down, lion wins.
The truck lurched forward on the rock hard mud flat cobblestone. My "benchrest" shooting position was gone. Whatever was going to happen it was going to be the lion and me offhand shooting. Well, offhand shooting on hopefully a stopped platform. With the vehicle now moving, the barrel was swinging wildly on every axis. I tried to lock my feet into the floor board with my back pressed against the seat. But the barrel was still in constant motion and not in my shoulder.
When the truck moved, so did the lions. The females stood up. In one motion, the male turned into the bush and moved in the opposite direction fully behind the bush out of my site.
.
The truck lurched forward on the rock hard mud flat cobblestone. My "benchrest" shooting position was gone. Whatever was going to happen it was going to be the lion and me offhand shooting. Well, offhand shooting on hopefully a stopped platform. With the vehicle now moving, the barrel was swinging wildly on every axis. I tried to lock my feet into the floor board with my back pressed against the seat. But the barrel was still in constant motion and not in my shoulder.
When the truck moved, so did the lions. The females stood up. In one motion, the male turned into the bush and moved in the opposite direction fully behind the bush out of my site.
.
This is great.
There was a stuffed lion that looked a lot like that at Oshman's in Dallas when I was a kid. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.
If he moved straight away from us, we would not see him until he was lost in the thickets just off the Pan. If he went left or right, there would be an opening for a short period before he hit the thickets. He went left and gave me a short window to shoot. I yelled stop...the car was still moving. Not that Alastair needed my encouragement to stop. He reappeared on the left running for the thicket. I got the gun in my shoulder as the car made its last lurch forward on stopping. I fired with it's head just reaching the thicket. It was sharply quartered with its left side to me.
A loud series of growls went up and the lion went into a frenzy. The frenzy carried him into the thicket and out of sight again. I could see a swirl of brown shades moving behind the bush he was behind and fired into the bush. At that, the growling continued but he moved off from the bush deeper into the thicket. The females had moved well around to the right as he went into the thicket and at that point they joined him there. Given his reaction; the growling, the twisting and turning, etc.; I knew he was hit. I didn't know if it was just the once or if I had gotten lucky with the 2nd shot. I didn't know if he was just annoyed or mortally wounded or somewhere in between. The 1st shot was very rushed; ~50 yds. The 2nd one a prayer firing at a shape. Given how quartered he was, I wanted to shoot him well back of the shoulder.
In a few moments, seconds really; I heard a combination roar, growl, cry, scream that lasted at least 15 seconds. I really couldn't tell how far off it was as we really couldn't see anything of them in the thicket after them getting away from the initial shooting. That sound he made must be what you hear when you open the trap door of hell. I'd never heard anything like that on Wild Kingdom or any Nat Geo show. At this point, the hunting team on the back of the truck was trying to spot them; him specifically. Alastair and I got out of the truck and climbed on the back bench above the cab. Jimmy climbed down to drive. We moved off slowly going around to the right of the thicket where we could maneuver the truck. We had gone about 30 yds; we heard a growl and the male jumped up and ran to the left. Well, it was not a lion run. It was a broken gate and he wasn't near as fast as previously. So he was hit; the shoulder likely broken...but more on the somewhere-in-between scale of wound severity I thought. As we were moving; not chance to fire a shot.
He disappeared again into another thicket that opened to a more forested area with grass ranging from 3 to 8 ft tall underneath. As we got near the 2nd thicket he popped up again and lumbered off into the grass. At this point, he's gone ~75 yds from where we 1st saw him and ~50 yds from where he was shot. You could see the blood on him; the shot was way too far forward to be a quick killing blow...not what I intended. Maybe I got some lung...but certainly not heart at that placement with him quartered. Both times he'd popped up he announced himself with a growl as he ran. We moved the vehicle up and stopped just to the right of the grass he had entered and tried to find him. In general we were all looking too far away. The truck moved again and we heard the growl again. The truck stopped and I started to get steady and get the gun in my shoulder as he appeared on the left about 30 yds away. I fired quickly as my waste leaned into the cab. The line was right; but too high. I saw the impact just over him.
A loud series of growls went up and the lion went into a frenzy. The frenzy carried him into the thicket and out of sight again. I could see a swirl of brown shades moving behind the bush he was behind and fired into the bush. At that, the growling continued but he moved off from the bush deeper into the thicket. The females had moved well around to the right as he went into the thicket and at that point they joined him there. Given his reaction; the growling, the twisting and turning, etc.; I knew he was hit. I didn't know if it was just the once or if I had gotten lucky with the 2nd shot. I didn't know if he was just annoyed or mortally wounded or somewhere in between. The 1st shot was very rushed; ~50 yds. The 2nd one a prayer firing at a shape. Given how quartered he was, I wanted to shoot him well back of the shoulder.
In a few moments, seconds really; I heard a combination roar, growl, cry, scream that lasted at least 15 seconds. I really couldn't tell how far off it was as we really couldn't see anything of them in the thicket after them getting away from the initial shooting. That sound he made must be what you hear when you open the trap door of hell. I'd never heard anything like that on Wild Kingdom or any Nat Geo show. At this point, the hunting team on the back of the truck was trying to spot them; him specifically. Alastair and I got out of the truck and climbed on the back bench above the cab. Jimmy climbed down to drive. We moved off slowly going around to the right of the thicket where we could maneuver the truck. We had gone about 30 yds; we heard a growl and the male jumped up and ran to the left. Well, it was not a lion run. It was a broken gate and he wasn't near as fast as previously. So he was hit; the shoulder likely broken...but more on the somewhere-in-between scale of wound severity I thought. As we were moving; not chance to fire a shot.
He disappeared again into another thicket that opened to a more forested area with grass ranging from 3 to 8 ft tall underneath. As we got near the 2nd thicket he popped up again and lumbered off into the grass. At this point, he's gone ~75 yds from where we 1st saw him and ~50 yds from where he was shot. You could see the blood on him; the shot was way too far forward to be a quick killing blow...not what I intended. Maybe I got some lung...but certainly not heart at that placement with him quartered. Both times he'd popped up he announced himself with a growl as he ran. We moved the vehicle up and stopped just to the right of the grass he had entered and tried to find him. In general we were all looking too far away. The truck moved again and we heard the growl again. The truck stopped and I started to get steady and get the gun in my shoulder as he appeared on the left about 30 yds away. I fired quickly as my waste leaned into the cab. The line was right; but too high. I saw the impact just over him.
Wounds the lion had from fighting... divots out of the top of his head and an open slash on his back. We are headed back into leopard blind in about 10 minutes. Will have to finish this tomorrow.
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
I myself have wondered if Japantiger is the richest poster on Texags. or if not, who the heck is?Get Off My Lawn said:
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
rednecked said:I myself have wondered if Japantiger is the richest poster on Texags. or if not, who the heck is?Get Off My Lawn said:
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
I am, and it's not even close.
Get Off My Lawn said:
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
I didn't think strippers made THAT much money.
Drillbit4 said:TAMU77CLAY said:No not at allCharismatic Megafauna said:
Which is odd because don't leopards kill a lot more people than lions?
Hippos kill the most. Watch out for those hippos.
And it's not even close....
Hippo (3k annually)
Elephant (500)
Nile Croc (300)
Lion (200)
Cape Buffalo (200)
Hippos kill more than twice as many people as the other four combined.
Get Off My Lawn said:
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
Maybe he found a way to monetize Gary79Ag stars.
DaveAg02 said:Drillbit4 said:TAMU77CLAY said:No not at allCharismatic Megafauna said:
Which is odd because don't leopards kill a lot more people than lions?
Hippos kill the most. Watch out for those hippos.
And it's not even close....
Hippo (3k annually)
Elephant (500)
Nile Croc (300)
Lion (200)
Cape Buffalo (200)
Hippos kill more than twice as many people as the other four combined.
This is one of the last things 3,000 people annually ever see…. That dude has violence in his eyes.
that's what Africa is lacking!
Common Sense Hippo Control!!!
Common Sense Hippo Control!!!
Pretty sure all Hippos are actual assault hippos.agrams said:
that's what Africa is lacking!
Common Sense Hippo Control!!!
it's that high capacity mouth full of assault teeth.. can smoosh the lungs right out of a full grown whale!
agrams said:
it's that high capacity mouth full of assault teeth.. can smoosh the lungs right out of a full grown whale!
Or your head…
AgEng06
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Why I took that flier of a shot I don't know. My body was still in motion. I guess it boiled down to the PH yelling shoot, shoot, shoot! (sort of like Giddings post earlier)
The shot was over him to his left and a fountain of sand kicked in the air. He veered further right at that keeping him out of the next tree line and a repeat of the last two times he's moved off. He was trotting at best now. We were fully stopped and I lined him up and took my time. He was quartered to the right @ about 50 yds by then and still another 20 yds inside the short grass where you could see all of him. I put the dot about a hands width behind the shoulder and fired.
He went to the ground immediately and rolled onto his side. His rear paws were trying to get purchase but were flailing in the air. Since he was moving I fired again into his upside down shoulder...probably not needed; but didn't want him to suddenly stand up and run again. He stopped moving. We gave him about a minute and then approached on foot. I safed the weapon.
This all happened pretty darn quickly. From the time we saw the two females to the end was less than 45 minutes for sure...maybe less than 30. The good news is, well, the REALLY good news is I got a lion and the days here just got a lot simpler and more manageable. The other good news is no more big lion bates to shoot...the bad news is, turns out I didn't need to shoot ANY lion baits :-).
The shot was over him to his left and a fountain of sand kicked in the air. He veered further right at that keeping him out of the next tree line and a repeat of the last two times he's moved off. He was trotting at best now. We were fully stopped and I lined him up and took my time. He was quartered to the right @ about 50 yds by then and still another 20 yds inside the short grass where you could see all of him. I put the dot about a hands width behind the shoulder and fired.
He went to the ground immediately and rolled onto his side. His rear paws were trying to get purchase but were flailing in the air. Since he was moving I fired again into his upside down shoulder...probably not needed; but didn't want him to suddenly stand up and run again. He stopped moving. We gave him about a minute and then approached on foot. I safed the weapon.
This all happened pretty darn quickly. From the time we saw the two females to the end was less than 45 minutes for sure...maybe less than 30. The good news is, well, the REALLY good news is I got a lion and the days here just got a lot simpler and more manageable. The other good news is no more big lion bates to shoot...the bad news is, turns out I didn't need to shoot ANY lion baits :-).
Get Off My Lawn said:
I've wondered several times over the course of this thread "what does JapanTiger do for a living that affords him this opportunity?!" It's pretty obvious that 'professional tease' pays better than I realized!
Dad joke: Anyone else using Safari as their browser to follow this thread? Har har.
I'm doing my part. Shot another hippo this morning. When we left the blind site at around 7:30 this morning, the local Chief radioed and asked for a favor. They are holding their annual Festival of the villages next week and they need meat. He wanted a hippo. So on the way back we stopped about 9:00 on he river bank and stalked up the river and found a pod of hippos. There were 2 males in the group. We got to the waters edge and they all just went to ground (well, water) and moved off farther across the river and kept very low in the water. The 2 males were just playing a game of submerge for a couple minutes, grab a breath and do it again.cupofjoe04 said:DaveAg02 said:Drillbit4 said:TAMU77CLAY said:No not at allCharismatic Megafauna said:
Which is odd because don't leopards kill a lot more people than lions?
Hippos kill the most. Watch out for those hippos.
And it's not even close....
Hippo (3k annually)
Elephant (500)
Nile Croc (300)
Lion (200)
Cape Buffalo (200)
Hippos kill more than twice as many people as the other four combined.
This is one of the last things 3,000 people annually ever see…. That dude has violence in his eyes.
Before I talk about the Hippo, the festival will have everyone from the Chiefs 7 villages there. So Chinsembwe and Mwape are two of his villages that adjoin Nyakolwe. Each village has a sub-Chief in charge. Turns out, there's a little problem in the villages here. They are all so small and isolated, they have a huge problem with incest and in-breeding. It's not limited to this Chief-dom; it's a national issue. So the Chiefs have a big festival to bring as broad a DNA spread as he can get among his villages together annually. It's basically a ****-fest; or,e, a Love-fest. So I'm sponsoring ****-Zambia 2022 with the gift of 4,000 pounds of hippo meat. In exchange, I got the neck for Leopard bait. It feels good to bring young people together.
We backed off the waters edge up the bank to ~130 yds. We finally zero'd in on the male to take and it was a waiting game. With us moving back, the hippos slowly began to come up again and expose more. Lowered the sticks and sat in the sand. Looped my left leg over the left leg of the sticks to brace it and the PH anchored the right leg. Rested my elbow on my right knee. He was quartered away so shot him behind the ear. The water is shallow there so his body was partially exposed after the shot. We had to leave so we could get on with the other things we needed to do today so we left a member of the hunting team to mark the location for the skinning team to come get him. They headed out about 20 minutes ago. One of those guys is supposed to take a photo for us.
Sounds like they might need you to supply more than hippo meat. Maybe there could be a few little japantigers running around next year.
So what's your total kill count with trophies and bait? I've definitely lost count.
Milwaukees Best Light
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AG
Just going off the pictures, I bet you bring outside DNA to the party. Just sayin…
CowtownAg06 said:
So what's your total kill count with trophies and bait? I've definitely lost count.
32 I think...
Lion
Elephant
Rhino
Crocodile
Cape Buffalo
Kudu - UPDATE the Kudu prelim measure is 53"
Eland
Nyala
Bushbuck
Roan
Sable
Tsessebe
Springbok - 4 (White, Black, Copper, Standard)
Black Wildebest
Red Lechwe
Steenbok
Hippo - 3
Impala - 5
Warthog - 2
Waterbuck - 2
In addition to the Leopard, I'd like to get a Pucu and a Hyena if time permits.
Me, at the festivalMas89 said:
Sounds like they might need you to supply more than hippo meat. Maybe there could be a few little japantigers running around next year.
japantiger said:CowtownAg06 said:
So what's your total kill count with trophies and bait? I've definitely lost count.
32 I think...
Lion
Elephant
Rhino
Crocodile
Cape Buffalo
Kudu
Eland
Nyala
Bushbuck
Roan
Sable
Tsessebe
Springbok - 4 (White, Black, Copper, Standard)
Black Wildebest
Red Lechwe
Steenbok
Hippo - 3
Impala - 5
Warthog - 2
Waterbuck - 2
In addition to the Leopard, I'd like to get a Pucu and a Hyena if time permits.
Wow!
japantiger said:CowtownAg06 said:
So what's your total kill count with trophies and bait? I've definitely lost count.
32 I think...
Lion
Elephant
Rhino
Crocodile
Cape Buffalo
Kudu - UPDATE the Kudu prelim measure is 53"
Eland
Nyala
Bushbuck
Roan
Sable
Tsessebe
Springbok - 4 (White, Black, Copper, Standard)
Black Wildebest
Red Lechwe
Steenbok
Hippo - 3
Impala - 5
Warthog - 2
Waterbuck - 2
In addition to the Leopard, I'd like to get a Pucu and a Hyena if time permits.
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