Queston: What animal scares you the most?

Reading as many books about Africa and hunting as I have, one thing has become apparent, lions give me the willies. I've hunted Africa several times. Been up close and personel to all the true nasties, but it's just something about lions that put me on edge.
I've hunted lion before, even going into the thickest tangles at night with flashlights looking for a wounded lion (mom always said my sister got the brains)(found him dead).
The bottom line, NOTHING excites me quite like a lion. How about you guys?

Leopard: As long as he is dead or without a mood changing puncture, I don't fear this guy much.
Buffalo: I fear the unknown cranky cripple that no one sees when they are stalking a bush duiker.
Lion: Not much fear for these guys but a comfortable respect.
Rhino: No fear of these giants. Did get a good scare by one once while sitting in a leopard blind.
Ellephant: I fear these critters. You never know for sure how they will behave. They are like dealing with a 6 year old kid driving a D9. When they get hold of you you are proper f*#!cked. Most likely you ain't going to make it.
Hippo: Not enough experience around these guys, but the ones I have been around didn't give me any bad illusions.
Croc: Creapy bastards. The only one I can think of that each one of them looks at me as food. I do get nervous around the water in Africa.

smarterthanu,
Obvioulsy your a man with wonderful experiences.
I've never been around rhino so can't claim tha feeling.
I did make a bad shot on a hippo once that the second shot killed in deep water. I was the only one armed so I got to stand guard against croc's while everyone else took turns swimming out to tie ropes on him. I did't miss that pool party at all.

Elephants do it for me.

after reading saeeds stories about walter i'd have to say it is walter

quote:

Originally posted by smarterthanu:
Leopard: As long as he is dead or without a mood changing puncture, I don't fear this guy much.
Buffalo: I fear the unknown cranky cripple that no one sees when they are stalking a bush duiker.
Lion: Not much fear for these guys but a comfortable respect.
Rhino: No fear of these giants. Did get a good scare by one once while sitting in a leopard blind.
Ellephant: I fear these critters. You never know for sure how they will behave. They are like dealing with a 6 year old kid driving a D9. When they get hold of you you are proper f*#!cked. Most likely you ain't going to make it.
Hippo: Not enough experience around these guys, but the ones I have been around didn't give me any bad illusions.
Croc: Creapy bastards. The only one I can think of that each one of them looks at me as food. I do get nervous around the water in Africa.

Elephants - Amazingly difficult to see in the bush so easy to get too close by accident and temperment varries from laid back to out and out insanity, you just never know. Respectful enough to always be armed sufficiently to stop one when in ele territory.

Lions - They may think you are food at any given time. Difficult to see if they don't want to be seen, like when they are hunting you or you are hunting them. Easy to see when you don't "need" to see them for one of the two reason above.

Crocs - They always think you are food. Entirely instinctive which makes them relatively predictable, but they are lurking unseen where you might want to be, so a healthy respect around water. Doesn't take much water to make a home for even the biggest so always caution near water.

Snakes - Abject fear, thankfully rarely seen in my experience.

Black Rhino - Grumpy with poor vision, good hearing and good nose so healthy respect, especially since there is no self defense shooting permitted. No experience with white rhinos.

Hippos - Not enough experience to know.

Leopard - Stealthy and cunning, but shy. No worries until I shoot one and then the follow up, even to a cat you "know" is dead, will be tense.

Cape Buffalo - No worries, except for the possibility of stumbling on an unknown hurt or wounded buff with revenge on its mind.

JPK

I have a great respect for all wild animals but at this time I am unable to tell my wife about my next safari, so to answer the question, I would say it is my wife.

Mosquitoes in malaria areas.

Without a doubt, despite the recent topic on here, it is SNAKES.

Elephants are the ones that always give me pause. As others have said they are unpredictable and they are just so big. I guess in my mind I feel I have some chance of stopping a problem with my rifle with other DG. Even though I have shot elephant I just have no confidence that a little 300-500 gr bullet is going to stop tons of pachyderm if it is bearing down on me.

Mark

You'll have to list me in the elephant coloum as well. I have great respect for buffalo, lions and leopard, all dangerous game but with the jumbo's the pucker factor seems to get there sooner then all others. They seemed to be everywhere in my hunt last year in Zimbabwe. Several old cows were very cranky.

How's this for a philosophical answer?

Of all animals, humans scare me the most. I've never been to Africa, but if I find myself in the middle of nowhere (I often do) a rifle always comforts me the most when I spot people in the distance.

Two summers ago I found myself on a 3-week solo backpacking odyssey....unarmed. Howling wolves and cougar tracks through my camp didn't creep me out as much as some folks I came across. A big scope and a 168 grain boat tail are formidable against other "two-leggers".

In 2006 in Matetsi we were about 30 yards from a lioness and two cubs. I have never seen eyes like that and I was glad I was standing next to the Land Cruiser.

For my next hunt (this September) I'll be after another buffalo and a tuskless elephant. I have a lot of respect for the Cape bufalo, but I'd have to say I'm ten times more apprehensive about the elephant already.

quote:

Originally posted by MARK H. YOUNG:
Even though I have shot elephant I just have no confidence that a little 300-500 gr bullet is going to stop tons of pachyderm if it is bearing down on me.

Mark

Ain't that the truth. Go to the deer hunting forums and read about how some think an 80gr or 120gr or 150gr bullet or so is not enough or plenty, etc for deer, with most all of those bullets traveling at light speed.

Assuming a deer @ ~150lbs on the hoof and your looking at about .5 to 1.0 grains of bullet weight per pound of animal.

For elephants you would need about a 4,000 to 10,000 grain bulllet to match up. A 300 grain bullet equals about .0375 to .03 grains per pound and a 500 about .0625 to .05 grains to the pound! More than a 10 to 1 or 15 to 1 difference.

BTW, can you imagine shooting 7000gr bullet at 2700fps?

JPK

Although it is very unsettling to have a lion look you over like a hungry guest scoping a snack tray at a cocktail party, there is nothing to instill awe and fright like an elephant.

They are large. I mean, really big. But they are quiet, and amazingly hard to see. And did I mention fast. Because they are so big, they don't seem like they are moving all that fast. Wrong! And you thought large bears ran through and over trees.

You realize when you get shooting close to these giants that your thirst for adventure has gotten you into really deep stuff. There is little margin for error and if things go wrong, terrible things can happen.

I generally think that a man with a gun is more than the equal of most wild animals with the exception of an elephant. In their case, the man had better have a large gun; know how to use it well; and where to shoot the elephant in the manner he is presenting. Buy Bill's book. Kudude

You guys are terrific. I've missed a lot by not being a member before now.

I was false charged by a big black maned lion once. I can still feeling it in my bones. The eyes locked on, the tremendous roar that vibrated my chest, the incredable speed and the faint sound of the PH screaming, "wait, wait, wait, wait". At 20 feet he stopped and just jumped into the bush. Looking at the PH I said, "what the f%&k do you mean wait". He said "I wanted to make sure he was close".
Yea, lions really do it for me.

I have to admit though, I do travel, a lot, in the Alaska bush and I'm always armed and not because of animals. I had a drunk village person point a shot gun in my face just because he didn't like my race.
I never go anywhere in the Alaska bush unarmed.

No experience with lions.

Buffalo aren't big enough and are too much like cattle (yes, I've only been around them maybe ten times)

Brown bears, FWIW, they're my #2 although I've been around plenty. They just are not trustworthy.

Elephants? They defy reality. It's as if you've approached a group of buildings or hills or something LARGE and immobile and then they MOVE - of their own volition. When they crash off, it's a relief (leaving you strangely wanting more...) but when they ghost around like fog, appearing here and disappearing from there, like Mark and JPK have related, there ain't much between you and them but a hatpin rifle bullet.

Satan scares me! guess my ill spent youth keeps coming into question! animals don't, although the bad ones will get my attention!

The most dangerous animal alive is a scared man with a loaded gun.

I'd say it's an ex-wife with a lawyer!

To date for me is without a doubt a mother opossum with babies!! I came across a mother opossum with about a half dozen babies on her back one day while mending fence several years ago. The more I retreated the more she came forward. Thought I was going to have to take her on with only a pair of fencing pliars.

Put me down for the "SNAKES" catagory!

quote:

Originally posted by RaySendero:
Put me down for the "SNAKES" catagory!

ME TOO!!!

Any of the Big 5

African Drivers are the hands down scariest thing over there. Red lights mean nothing. Seat belts are laughed at. 60 mph down dirt roads with the truck overloaded, no problem etc etc etc.

Spiders. If one of them ends up on me I scream like a little girl... Close second would be a mamba headed in my general direction.

When I was in Zim in 05 I asked my PH Jim Mackie on what animal the clients shot the worst? He replied that it was lion by a wide margin.

Funny, as I thought they shot lion at close range. He replied that the first shot was bad and the second shot was way worse. Most lions roared and huffed very loudly when hit and bounced around, scaring the hell out of the client.

Jim said he's had a handfull of clients piss their pants when the lion roared after the first shot. One client in 05 shot the lion and it started bouncing and roaring loudly. Jim told the client to shoot again. No shot. He repeated the request to shoot again and the client replied that he had pissed his pants. Jim said shoot him anyway!

We had an old female lion in camp most every night, scared me plenty as our tent wouldn't close. Between it and the leopard I didn't sleep well....
troy

Interesting thread! My observation is that wild animals are just being themselves (even snakes), so you know what you are getting. However, for sheer unadulterated, unprovoked evil, it is hard to beat homo sapiens. It is that fear of the unknown, rather than the known, that scares me.
Peter.

water moccasins (too much lonesome dove)
sharks
africanized bees
box jelly fish
leopard (just too small and fast to stop without getting lucky)

quote:

Originally posted by Peter:
Interesting thread! My observation is that wild animals are just being themselves (even snakes), so you know what you are getting.
Peter.

I think that this is true for some, but definitely untrue for other. The "others" include elephants, lion, leopard all of which "think" and are capable of plotting, imo.

I'm not too sure buff shouldn't be in this catagory because of their reputation for, when wounded, laying in wait and for circling back to ambush hunters on their tracks.

(Don't know squat about bears, jaguars, other possibilities.)

JPK

I say Snakes. They just creep me out.

One eyed, one horned, flyin' purple People eaters scare me

High in the remote Cascades.

36 hours brutal hike from the nearest road.

Black as coal can't even see your hand.

In the dense forest movement in the dark is impossible.

You hear a large crashing sound.

The sound of huge boulders being tossed into mammoth trees.

Then - the sound of huge logs being swung and then crack.

It's the local Sasquatch clan playing a game of night stickball.

Yep. Nine feet tall, 850 pounds, stinky, and smarter than any African Game.

That pretty much gets my attention.

Another snake hater here.

All the big ones you can avoid if you wish, but that unexpected snake is no fun. I realize its a bit unreasonable, but you did ask what the individual is scared of...

Lions at night.

quote:

Originally posted by dogcat:
Mosquitoes in malaria areas.

it is the biggest killer in africa kills more people than the big 5 put together

the most dangerous animal is the one you dont respect to many guys has scares to show from duiker or steenbok and our old friend the Bushbuck.

No experience with any DG other than elephant & croc, so, at this time my vote goes to the elephant.

Snakes-
#1 As my wife and I began a quick nature trail walk at Waterberg in Namibia I started to push against a large bamboo stalk for balance and, at face height, a Mamba shot like lightning up the stalk while I, not even knowing what it was, back-pedaled like an Olympian! It took a few seconds for my brain to put everything together - size, color, shape, speed - and when the actual realization set in, that's when my pulse went to 199. Nature walk over - back in the truck, down the road, only to come upon ssnake #2 -
a cobra stretching lazily halfway (about 10 ft-we've got the video) across the road! Too many snakes for me to take in within a half hour!!!
#3 stalking oryx, planning to use the "V" in the trunk of a small tree to rest my rifle for the shot, and the tracker whispers (loudly) "Boomslang"! A small hollow in the "V" contained a very cold, and (thank God) slow, Spitting Cobra!

Too many snakes!!!
Dave

Only three animals scare the be-jesus out of me after having close calls with them

Polar Bear
Wolverine
Man

Big sharks when you're in the water. But a pissed off Lion or ele might top that--just haven't been in that situation. Crocs are probably always waitng to get you.