It seems entirely possible that they groomed it up nice and pretty for the picture. If I had of shot such an incredible specimen I think I would have had the trackers/skinners fluff it all maybe brush it out etc...

Just a possibility. I hope it wasnt a canned hunt.

I'm going to have to agree with Allen D. right down the line on this one! Looks a little MGM to me!

Thank for your comment.

Close-ups would be nice but you can save the picture and then enlarge it with Photoshop or similar software enhance the picture and you can see more details.
I seen plenty of lions, wild lions dead and live ones. lions, are not leopards or tiger, there are dirty, filthy and full of parasites and none of the one I seen have such an fine skin as the one in the picture. He got what seems to be some scratches in the face. A wild lion looks much different even in national parks the lion got scars and parasites did you see the hairs on the elbow? No kakibos or grass / twigs in the mane, no cuts from fences or wires? Mane like this you find normally in semi dessert and dessert environment not in the bushfeld at least not on a free ranging wild lion and how many lion naturally occur on 50000 hectare bushfeld in South Africa????
Show me one game farmer in south africa which got a lion pride running together with his other game animals, this would be financially suicide! Do any one believe that somebody would fence 50 000 hectare lion proofed to hunt a from natural lion population???? Nobody can be this na�ve.

I would like to hear from forum members how there opinion a on such culls.
Hunting can only survive if ethics a improved and we as hunters distance our self from unethical practises.
IMO it is not sufficient to condemn such practises but to fight them. We must getaway from having trophy competition with record list�s and medals.

In Rowland Ward records of big game all trophies can be entered this including found one. The name says it all, its records the size of the trophy primary and not the hunter. It is not intended as a competition register. How would you describe safari club�s record book?
If I would work for a anti hunting group I would subscribe to safari times there is all the ammo in I needed. I think the problem with this unethical hunts is there is a demand for and the there is a supplier for. Which one was first

Since we are discussing huge lions, I watched "Under Wild Skies" this morning. At the beginning of the show were two monster Okavango Delta lions eating an impala. When Botswana lifts the lion hunting ban, I wonder what kind of daily rates and trophy fees the safari companies will be asking? Lion hunting has been banned since Feb. 2001. The lions in Botswana must now be the best in all of Africa.

Madabula Safaris has some pretty specimens on its site:



140 SCI buffalo:







No. 1 Wildebeest:







No. 2 kudu:







Top 10 lion:







Another lion:







And of course a no. 1 lion:







I am not saying that these animals are not legit, and I am not saying that they are. But that's quite a few top trophies to come naturally from a single concession.

DIET:

Adult females require an average of 11 pounds of meat per day and adult males, 15.4 lbs. The pride provides food to its sick and wounded members but not to the male. The male uses his size to take what he wants of the lioness' kill.

A typical diet will include zebra, giraffe, buffalo, wildebeest, gazelles and impala. Lions are opportunistic and will readily scavenge the kills of cheetahs, leopards, wild dogs and hyenas.

Can someone estimate how much plains game it would take to maintain a medium sized pride of lions in the bushveld?

If all those males were shot in one season, then something smells fishy, but is it possible thatyou could maintain a pride or 2 in over 100,000 of bushveld?