Has anyone intentionly hunted spotted hyena? How did you hunt them? Over bait?
I think it would make part of a great mount maybe with a small antelope hanging from his jaws.
My operator says the trophy fee is $500 does that seem high?

I think as "Near Dangerous Game" goes, hyena are way underrated, and well worth a $500 trophy fee.

I have shot them off of leopard bait twice, baited unsuccessfully once in Zim (my son), passed on once, and shot one as a target of opportunity. For the money, baiting hyena is a lot of fun...just like leopard/lion baiting if your PH is willing to put the effort in (some view hyena as vermin). Same basic experience…hang bait, build a blind, early mornings, etc. Their "whooops" are spine-tingling, as are the noises they make when feeding on a bait. In areas where they are hunted, they can be nocturnal and head to their dens before sunup, and challenging to get on bait during shooting hrs. Like w/leopard, an illuminated scope is helpful for the first few/last minutes of legal light.

And they make a great mount, here is a link to the one I had done: https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1821043/m/308109422

Terry,

A full grown hyena is a 170 lbs. with a great set of crunchers...

Mike

Bill: Laros is only 15 minutes from my home.I have a full mounted 10' 4" brown bear they've done for me here at my home.
Mike: Yes I know their size, and have seen them in the wild. I am just wondering how many posters have hunted for them on purpose.
I'dREALLY like slip an arrow into one after calling him in to a predator call.And for a couple hundred dollars I can't quabble about the fee.

cats

I have one we specifically hung a bait for. Great hunt and very underrated trophy. $500 sounds about right.

Mark

I've also taken one off of a bait put out just for them. Fun hunt. My PH told me they make great rugs and thats what I'll do with mine. The skull is impressive with all of their teeth. That I'm giving to my five year old son.

An illuminated reticle would be helpful.

JPK

Hey cats,

I hunted them "on purpose"

Shot some Impala doe, and hung them on a tree, the front half where they could reach it and the back half just out of their reach. By doing this they get some to eat, but just a taste, then they would hang around all night trying for the rest.

We built a blind on top of a ridge, about 80 yards away, and the trackers cleared a path so we could enter from the rear with out being detected.

I'll tell you what, what a exciting way to hunt them! The first morning, we got to the blind before light, without being noticed. As I kneeled in the blind I could hear the bones crunching, incredable! When it was light enough to see the bait, a female leopard was feasting up in the tree! Got great video of her!

After doing this two more times, I mean mornings, I took a huge Hyena, and my friend took the smaller one, witch was still a good one!

Here's a photo of mine, rankes #16 in SCI:





Trophy fee was $450.00

Widowmaker,

Was your hyena male or female??? I read an article in the African Sporting Gazette that stated that females were larger than males and was just wondering. Your hyena looked huge. I am not trying to imply that shooting female animals is bad, I was just wondering???

I found the article in the Gazette to be very interesting on hyena's. The biggest thing that interested me about them was that they kill a good number of game, and then lions come in and steal there trophy from them normally. Guess the King of the Jungle is more a scavenger.

Kinda like the US's Symbol.

I took one at last light on the edge of our camp. We had just come back and the trackers saw it in the dusk. If I had waited another minute I don't believe that I would have been able to see it, but Schmidt & Benders are amazing. I had it made into a rug.

TerryR

quote:

Was your hyena male or female??? I read an article in the African Sporting Gazette that stated that females were larger than males and was just wondering

It was a female, and yes the females are bigger then the males. Also, did you know that the Hyena has both sex organs! yep!

The females have alot more testosterone(excuse spelling) than the males wich make them grow bigger and then also grow false male organs. The female matry ark is the leader of the family with the males having low ranking positions. The daughters of the matry ark will have a better position within the family group than any cubs from other family mebers.

I intentionally hunted spotted hyena in Zim on the evening after shooting my Buffalo. It was a full moon, and Louie Mueller, our ph, had hunted before in the manner to be described.

In the afternoon, we went to this road junction that was unusual because it was in the middle of a large clearing, and the soil type was white sand. We built a blind from that ubiquitous black plastic burlap and covered it with brush leaving three chairs.

That evening, after dinner and a couple of sundowners, Louie, myself and a wildlife biologist from RSA drove to the blind and took up our places.

It was a beautiful night, with an absolutely full moon, and there was enough exposed white sand to give it a look similar to being at the beach in the moonlight. We got to the site, and started dragging the gut sack from the buff up the road one way and then back down the road the other way, and then up the cross road.

By the time we started the last drag, a hyena was on the trail. We finished the drag, and came back to the blind. Knowing the hyena was on the track cleared my head of at least one Bell's, and when we got out and Louie explained that there was a good possibility of lion picking up the scent and driving off the hyena, and we were not to shoot a lion under any circumstance, even if it stuck its head in the blind, my head became crystal clear.

As Louie parked the truck, I asked the biologist about the lions, and he told me straight out that lions own the night. Lions that would run from you in the daytime would attack you at night without hesitation. The impact of adrenaline on alcohol is astounding!

We hadn't been in the blind five minutes when a lone hyena showed following the scent. Louie had explained that it was this lone hunting trait that permitted this type of hunting. I could see only a dark blob thru my scope. Louie let me take a look thru his Zeiss 10x40's and I could tell which end was which. With that info, I put my cross hairs right where I estimated the heart/lung should be and let a 300 gr Silvertip fly.

Flame shot out three feet, and I was essentially blind for a couple of minutes. Louie said it was a perfect shot. The hyena rolled over on its back, kicked a couple of times and was still. He was amazed at the Silvertip's performance.

Louie fetched up the truck, and he and the biologist loaded him on the back. It was hugh, and ugly and smelled like a combination of all the hounds you ever were around all at once. We took it back to camp and put it in the cooler over night. In the am, it was very stiff when we took our trophy pics.

The skull graces my trophy room wall and its pelt is a rug there. The flesh and bones were still there untouched by hyena, dog, leopard, lion or buzzard when we left. I am not certain that anything bigger than bacteria feed on hyena, and would be they are shunned afterward. Kudude

Kudude:

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us. I would love to try Hyena over bait too.

quote:

Originally posted by Widowmaker416:

It was a female, and yes the females are bigger then the males. Also, did you know that the Hyena has both sex organs! yep!

Hyena females are dominant in the pack. They only toletate males for breeding purposes, most of the time they only allow males to eat just enough to keep them alive.

The females have the ability to manupilate their clitoris to look like a penis, they are not double sexed. It was believed that they were dual sexed but it was proven not to be true.

i've done it a couple times. 1st time was in matetsi. we hung a old skunky leopard bail in a tree about 100 yards outside of camp. Sat on barstools in the kitchen & waited. it was a moonlite night and the loner came in just after dark. It drifted in and out of the shadows for about 3 yours before it finally came under the bait and got shot. the 2nd time we had taken a lion off a donkey kill and waited the next night for mrs H to come along. We could hear them in the distance so we started calling. It probably only took 20 minutes for them to arrive. We were sitting in the back of the landcruiser and we 1st heard them when there were right next to the truck. That was exciting

quote:

Originally posted by Jaco Human:

Hyena females are dominant in the pack. They only toletate males for breeding purposes, were dual sexed but it was proven not to be true.

Christ! that sounds just like exwife #3
Anyway sound like it could be some fun. I'm thinking of taking my predator call along too.

quote:

quote:
Originally posted by Jaco Human:

Hyena females are dominant in the pack. They only toletate males for breeding purposes, were dual sexed but it was proven not to be true.


Christ! that sounds just like exwife #3
Anyway sound like it could be some fun. I'm thinking of taking my predator call along too.

You are manupilating as well, that critter caller won't get any women in

My first hunting experiance with Hyena was wounding and loosing one some years ago while tracking Buffalo one morning in Chewore south.

On a hunt in 2004 at Chirisa Safari area, due to the little time we had left on this hunt I had to pass up an opportunity on a Hyena that we saw from a Kopje while glassing for Elephant.

Third time lucky during my last hunt where I shot one from a bait early one morning with the help of a SCHMIDT&BENDER scope with an illuminated reticule.
Hyena trophy fees are around $300 to $500.

WE baited for Hyena when I was in Zim 2004, just never had time to sit in the blind.
I WILL take time in March 2006 to try and get one. I like hunting predators, and was very happy to get a side striped jackal, and a huge civet cat.
Wideomaker 416, nice hyena.

I shot one in Tanzania. We did not get to the point of hanging bait. We were in the process of doing so, dragging a Zebra carcas to a tree at sundown so we could sneak in to a hide early in the morning. When we slowed down to cross a gully several hyena were running up behind the truck!!!!!!!! I spun around and gave the biggest one a 200 grain Barnes X from my 300 win mag. It spun and bit at its shoulder where I shot it like a coyote does. The hyena was big, I would guess it weighed 170 lbs.

I have it full mounted in my house. PM me and I will e mail anyone pictures of it.

OzHunter,

I shot one using my 375H&H with a Luepold 1x5x5x20mm, the one inch scope without the illuminated reticle. I killed it with a good shot in the early predawn dark after waiting ten minutes for the light to come up a bit. I could not make him out with my naked eyes. Still, it was too much of a guessing game using the bold portion of the reticle to line up the shot. I would not have taken the shot on a leopard.

I'm looking for a brighter, illuminated reticle scope. Which S&B scope do you have? How does it do in the early AM/late PM and is it still a good all round scope for a 375H&H which is my back up DG rifle?

Thanks for your input.

JPK

I've never hunted hyaena but have shot at one. African superstition is that a hyaena may well be a witch disguised as a hyaena at night. Up to mischief no doubt.

Anyway we were coming back at night and Wayne, the PH switched on a spotlight as he wanted me to shoot a hyaena if we saw one. We picked one up on the track and as it jumped off into the darkness I fired my .30-06. Would you believe it, the bullet passed right through as if through smoke!

It must have been a witch hyaena for sure, for surely I couldn't miss!

Wayne was very annoyed and THEN told me Viv Bristow who was in camp wanted one to freeze to ship to Kenya as a prop for a movie someone was making and was willing to pay $100 for the carcase!

The witch got away unscathed that time.

JPK, I am completely happy with the S&B scopes that I have.
Some friends and I use the 1.5to6x42 on our 375's and 9.3's.
Schmidt&Bender have a model with extra eye relief (MAG EYE RELIEF) which is important imo.
The PH's I use were always impressed with these optics.

OzHunter,

Thanks for the imput.

I'm 44 and one thing I've noticed progressively in the last three years is that I just can't see in dim light like I used to able to.

JPK

Jaco and Wimpie are correct..hyenas do not have both sex organs at all, the females have a false phalus (extended clitoris) and it simply appears that way...just as it appears that crocs eat their own young...but don't. And yes, they are matriarchal, females being larger.

As I said earlier. I think Fay is full of it. I keep wondering where the heck he was. His reports just don't add up, unless you're convinced his views are so tilted they mean nothing.

JPK