Now a good PH friend of mine sent me the picture below. It was entitled "Mozambique Lions, which one, which one"? He has been to Moz a lot in the past couple months working on a new hunting concession. What do you think????



Aaron Neilson

All nicely quiffed..

left = arrogant, squinting so probably half blind
2nd = the stoner
3rd = suspicious and not ready to be your friend
4th = the dork, playing with the grass

I'd shoot the stoner, but only after flying in Packer, Ganyana, and Shakira for a second opinion.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnHunt:
All nicely quiffed..

left = arrogant, squinting so probably half blind
2nd = the stoner
3rd = suspicious and not ready to be your friend
4th = the dork, playing with the grass

I'd shoot the stoner, but only after flying in Packer, Ganyana, and Shakira for a second opinion.

John - Could not have said it better.

Aaron

quote:

Originally posted by JohnHunt:
I'd shoot the stoner, but only after flying in Packer, Ganyana, and Shakira for a second opinion.

I'll take the one on the right. He's no fool and he has no interest in the pesky human taking his photo. He's King and he knows it. The other 3 are trying to decide whether to charge or run. King has no such fear. He's fast, he's strong and he's bullet proof. That's why I have a 10mm pulse rifle

i need the results of their dental x-rays before i decide. and i think the second from the left doesn't have a completely black nose.

Really a tough call. Since they are together, can I make the assumption they are a bachelor group and therefore not in the breeding pride?

Let the PH make the call. I would shoot any one of them.

Nice lions!!! The one on the right is the most likely candidate.

Brett

I'd like the second lion to the left, but the first lion to give me a shot opportunity is getting a 375 caliber bullet through the boiler room.

If Shakira (NOT Shakari, mind you) was flown in, I might not make it out of the tent in time to catch these guys

As our names are so similar, I'd be very happy to share a tent with her! ........ In fact, I'd probably pay to!

All 4 are under 6 years of age in my opinion. Probably approaching 5. Don't ask me why, I just know!

Confirm the photo is from Moz?

Bwanamich - Honestly I can't confirm 100% the pic is from Moz. My PH buddy says it is, and he has been spending a fair bit of time there lately, that's all I know. Sometimes he messes with me, so take it for what you will. I agree totally, all 4 are under 6. My guess is 4-5, somewhere in there. They just do not have a totally mature look to them, but how could you really fault someone for shooting one of them?

Ain't seen 4 males together in the wild often Have actually seen it once in Mozambique though to be fair - never in Zim.

All are youngsters. $30k el cheapos instead of 50k MGM types. Give them another couple of years and an unlimited supply of donkeys, goats and the odd American tourist just to add the gloss to their manes...

"The odd American tourist" ... perhaps from Idaho?

Those are not Mozambican lions even if the picture was taken in Mozambique!
How high is the fence?

Depressing!

Shakira is probably more of a wolf expert
http://video.google.com/videos...=3803968215788494789

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
"The odd American tourist" ... perhaps from Idaho?

Anyone perticular in mind???? I'm not sure if he'd make their coat shine, but he might give them indigestion!!!

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by Ganyana:
Ain't seen 4 males together in the wild often Have actually seen it once in Mozambique though to be fair - never in Zim.

All are youngsters. $30k el cheapos instead of 50k MGM types. Give them another couple of years and an unlimited supply of donkeys, goats and the odd American tourist just to add the gloss to their manes...

What a surprise. I finally found something to one up Ganyana. I met him I believe in 1989 when I put on an IPSC Range Officers class there. He was one of my students. My wife and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and staying at the Tiger Bay Lodge on Lake Kariba with our friend Geoff Stevens as our guide. We were tiger fish fishing near the mouth of the Ume river and stopped at an island for lunch and to watch the crocs. When I spotted no less than five male lions resting in the shade on the island. I believe they were about the same age as these with equal manes.

465H&H

All I can say is that trying to decide which one to shoot, or even to shoot any of them, would be a wonderful problem to have. Not many of us ever have, or ever will, see such a sight in the wild.

Brett - it is a well known fact that Americans, particularly anti hunting types on photographic safaris improve a lion's mane...

However, if they eat a baTonka tribesman it gives them constipation as it is as hard to get a Tonga moving in the after life as it is in this one....

quote:

Originally posted by 465H&H:

quote:

Originally posted by Ganyana:
Ain't seen 4 males together in the wild often Have actually seen it once in Mozambique though to be fair - never in Zim.

All are youngsters. $30k el cheapos instead of 50k MGM types. Give them another couple of years and an unlimited supply of donkeys, goats and the odd American tourist just to add the gloss to their manes...

What a surprise. I finally found something to one up Ganyana. I met him I believe in 1989 when I put on an IPSC Range Officers class there. He was one of my students. My wife and I were celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary and staying at the Tiger Bay Lodge on Lake Kariba with our friend Geoff Stevens as our guide. We were tiger fish fishing near the mouth of the Ume river and stopped at an island for lunch and to watch the crocs. When I spotted no less than five male lions resting in the shade on the island. I believe they were about the same age as these with equal manes.

465H&H

I too have seen 5 males together, two huge ones and 3 nice 3-4 year olds - on Matesti Unit One...unusual but it happens

Ganyana - If you by chance know where any of these lions are, I just happen to have $30,000.00 that I would be happy to part with??

Regards, from a lion hunter looking for one for $30,000.00

Which brings up the whole Aaron's passport/save the lions issue again!

John - Come on man, I only want 9 more. I don't see how that's a big issue?? Just think of ALL the enjoyment it will bring me.

quote:

Originally posted by JohnHunt:
Which brings up the whole Aaron's passport/save the lions issue again!

We need a petition John!!!!

Brett

quote:

Originally posted by freischuetz:
Those are not Mozambican lions even if the picture was taken in Mozambique!
How high is the fence?

Depressing!

I wasn't going to put it as blunt as you did because they may not have been offered for "sale" to hunters..... maybe they were photographed in a Park

quote:

Originally posted by freischuetz:
Those are not Mozambican lions even if the picture was taken in Mozambique!
How high is the fence?

Depressing!

Hay this one was spotted just slightly above Moz.

Ozhunter - Yep, that's him! Where's he at?? Call Ganyana and tell him we are one our way!!

Aaron

quote:

i need the results of their dental x-rays before i decide.

Y'all are missing the point with the x-rays. We all know they are of no use ante-mortem on a specific lion.

The point is that things like the narrowing of the pulp-cavity (root canal) of teeth are a very consitent thing and that are "un"-influenced by the where they live. It is just a natural progression of age.

When we use things like this retrospectively...it helps us to predict the future better. That is why history is taught in school (for those of you that went...LOL!!!).

IE: If every time a lion is studied and shot, a predictable marker is evaluated post-mortem to verify that particular animal's age, DON'T YOU THINK YOU WILL GET BETTER EACH TIME???

Also, we can begin to narrow our data bases down to those very good criteria that we can see on-the-paw.

Another real-life example of different subject but same principle:

My family buys and sells cattle. Some of them buy "packer cows" on orders from companies. They are commonly known as "order buyers". When a cow comes through a sale ring, you get about 30 seconds to make up your mind about her and she is gone. And most of the time she is pinging off the fences like a pen-ball. Things you need to know about that cow are 1) age 2) pregnancy status 3) health 4) weight and 5) carcass grade. People who do this are amazingly accurate. If they are inaccurate, THEY LOOSE THERE JOB! They have gotten good at this by trial and error and by post-mortem makers, in this case the carcass. I know folks who can see a cow for less than minute and tell you her age with in a year or 2, say if she is heavy bred, if she has cancer or infectious disease, what she weighs, how big her rib-eyes are, and how much fat is over the top of them.

They got that good from 3 things: 1) experience 2) accountability (job loss if wrong very often) 3) by going and looking "inside" of what they produced and "CORRELATING POST-MORTEM FINDINGS WITH FUTURE ANTE-MORTEM BUYS"!

Otherwise we will be just like Aaron...we'll have a room full of trophies that we think are 6 or above but we won't know for sure. Not that it makes a difference for these individuals but for the future of lion hunting in general!

I heard about this particular group of lions. The guy who spotted them did, indeed, call in Packer, Ganyana, Shakari and a couple of other yahos from AR. The ensuing arugment went from which one to shoot to what caliber to use. The lions got bored and simply walked off.

quote:

Originally posted by Aaron Neilson:
Ozhunter - Yep, that's him! Where's he at?? Call Ganyana and tell him we are one our way!!

Aaron

As far as I'm aware the the fines for Poaching in Moz are scaled on your wealth. So if you get caught Just explain your are on the welfare. could work out to be a cheep hunt but be repaired for some poor accommodations should you get caught.

quote:

but be repaired for some poor accommodations should you get caught.

Less five star and more five bar perhaps???

Brett