What away to post my 100 post. I leave for Zambia in 350 days for a lion hunt. A question for you pro's. What
bait would you use for lion ? The trophy fees are the exact same for Hippo and Buff. I had originally planned on taking my 378 (using 270 barnes X) wby for lion and hippo/Buff and 300 wby for everything else. But after reading the hippo comments I'm now thinking about using my 460 for Hippo and or Buff and my 378 for everything else. Any thoughts?..thanks again.steve

AKA,

I've not yet shot a lion but I've fed a few. Lions can eat an amazing amount of meat. As hippo are larger I'd opt for hippo. You can get at least two really good baits out of a hippo. You can get two (or more) from a buff too but they are smaller and will require replentishment sooner.


Good luck;
Brett

AKA

I'm no expert but I have hunted along the Luangwa a couple of times. I think you'll find your PH will want to get some lion bait up quickly and a hippo provides 4 very substantial baits. He'll probably want to go to the river and have you pop one in the water the first morning. I've done this 3 times and a brain shot on a hippo is not as easy as folks would have you believe. After you get your lion bait hung then you can follow buffalo etc.

As for rifles your 300 will handle everything other than hippo and buffalo and actually the 300 would do the brain shot on the hippo. You probably will want to use your 378 on the lion but a well placed shot with your 300 and a premium 180-200 will kill him dead as a door nail. Unless you have specifically discussed shooting a hippo on land with your PH don't plan on it. Your lion needs to be your focus and you need lots of bait early on.

Regards,

Mark

Steve: I'll stick to my recommendation of taking the 460 with solids for the hippo and Xs for buffalo and use the 378 with the 270Xs for everything else.

The 378 will absolutely flatten the lion, given their succeptibility to shock, yet it's flat shooting enough to shot any plains game you want as well as the buffalo if you choose not to shoot the hippo.

Now as to the culinary predilections of lion when it comes to hippo or buffalo steaks, I'll defer to the real experts. jorge

Steve - As was said, hippo makes four great baits. If lion hunting is the priority, you will need [want] to get the baits up early in the safari (first evening). As such, you very likely will shoot the hippo in the water, where the challange is hitting the brain from the front or possibly side, and either of your rifles will more then suffice.

I would check with whoever you are hunting with to see if the buffalo can be used for bait, or if this needs to be given to the local village as part of the operator's agreement with the community.

Zebra can also be used, but I got just one bait out of it. Better to make sure that you have the option to take a second hippo if/as required during the hunt, noting the baits will last longer the earlier in the season (sounds like you are going in August). Don't skimp on the baits, not given the going day rates for a lion hunt. Cheers!

I'm no expert, but here is what I learned.

On my lion hunt we had ~6-8 baits up at any one time (you have to check them each day for activity - kind of like having a trap line). We used 1 hippo, 6 buffalo and 4 zebra as the main baits, plus a couple of hartebeest. The larger animals work better as you don't want the lion to eat all of the bait in one setting. Typically a bait would only last 4 to 6 days before the flys made maggot soup out of it (depending on the heat), so you will be replacing the baits unless you get your lion early. The lion I ended up killing (on day 14)was from a buffalo calf that we had spooked them off of - they had killed it that same morning and eaten the stomach out before we stumbled across them. We took the calf and hung it up in a tree and built a blind downwind. We sent the trackers on with the truck - 15 minutes (I timed it) after they left the lion came out. He went to the bait sniffed it and then came down wind of it, towards us and layed down in the shade - I shot him at 25 yards. Good luck and I hope you get your lion early, but you will need to be prepared to take a lot of bait animals and the bigger animals make better lion baits (they can eat more than a leopard & there is usually more than one of them)! Cat hunting can turn into work in a hurry - it is fun and exciting work, but your hunting time seems to revolve into checking a lot of baits. We took a 375H&H and a 416 Rigby, so we (wife & I) would have 2 dangerous game rifles.

I'm going to have to agree with Mark on this one! A Hippo will get you a lot of bait in a hurry, and they also make a very smelly bait, the will attract lion quickly. For the Hippo, as a bait, you need to pop one in water, and for that you need a very accurate rifle, because the target (IN WATER) is usually only about the size of a grapefruit, and is not as easy as it might seem. Something about being very close to the water surface seems to cast optical illusions, and the shots are often botched. Anything from a 30-06 will take Hippo in water, because the brain is all you shoot for, and it is not a hard target to reach in the head, but must be hit squarely!

Yor 378 WBY will handle it all, on land or in the water, and is far easier to shoot precisely, than a 460WBY. Now if Hippo and Buffalo were your primary targets, with the hippo on land, then the 460 might have some advantage. Hippo on land is a time comsuming hunt, and only gives you an hour per day of legal hunting for him. Your main target is the lion, and the baits need to be up as early as you can get them up. You can hut buff while your waithing for the baits to be hit! Any of the three rifle will flatten a lion if good bullets are used, and you shoot well. My choice would be the 378, however!

When I have hunted lion by attempting to bait them, we used all sorts of animals for bait, including buff and hippo. I think it would be best if you could budget for both a buff and a hippo.

The more baits you can put up, the more likely you will be to kill a lion, and buff and hippo are obviously big, and can provide many baits.

As for calibers, you should be okay with either the .378 or the .460. But you should consider taking along some solids--especially if you intend to stalk a hippo on land, but even for tough shots on buff.

We used hippo for lion bait in Tanzania before, and it drew lions, alright. As I understand it, hippo is a preferred lion bait.......

AD

Steve: I think the culinary concensus is that lions prefer "the other white meat" of hippos and that in all likelyhood you'll be shooting your hippo in the water and effecting a head shot. I think the 378 is perfectly suited for that task. If you launch one of those 270gr Xs at the hippo's noggin, he'll be as dead truth in the DNC. Although the 378's recoil is vicious, if you can handle it, it does give you that level of pinpoint accuracy nesssary for that brain shot. Another data point to consider is Saeed's weapon of choice. He uses a 375/404 wildcat that is the ballistic twin of the 378 with his own designed bullets that are practically the clone of a Barnes X. He's used it on hippo many times with great results.I still like my idea of the 460 as your backup though, as I feel it gives you more options when it comes to the hippo and the lion should your 378 suffer a breakdown. See, I told you this would be fun! jorge

Lion Bait? 1- Zebra, 2 hippo, buff come well down the list.

Why are the Hippo shot in the water? Seems they
would more trouable to recover. I have never been so just

invader66,

Actually they are pretty easy to recover as long as the current isn't swift.

My wife shot one and of course it sinks to the bottom. We have lunch and wait for the gases to expand in it's stomach, at which point it floats back to the top like a cork. Send the trackers out in a dugout canoe and they grab it by the tail and row it to shore. Put the truck winch around it's foot and drag it up onto the bank. At least that's what we did.

Of course the tracker's in the dugout are whacking the water the whole time to scare off any other hippos - not their first rodeo!

For my lion this year we used Hippo.

Thanks for your feedback. Hippo it is. Looks like the bait will go fast too. Thank you all for your feedback. Jorge I think your idea is the way to go! Thanks again..I'm still thinking about shooting one from a rocking boat. That has got to be an experience.

It's a moot question as you will use both your Hippo and Buffalo for bait, sometimes it takes a tremoundous amount of bait for Lions..and your not just feeding a male Lion, your feeding a pride most of the time, so you'll also need Zebra and who knows what else...

Personally I would opt for one load per rifle and that would be the heaviest bullet for those calibers...Like a 200 gr. Nosler in the 300s and a 300 gr. whatever in the .375...

Hippo lot of scent in the air..

Mike