Hmm. Lots of folks, me included, chose sharks. Peter Benchley, you stole lots of childhood seaside enjoyment for many of us! But then, I must in fairness question the wisdom of my old man, who took my brother and I, ages 7 and 8, to see Jaws. "Why yes, boys, that is supposed to be Cape Cod, where we go to the beach!"

D'oh!

Don't like man-eating sharks, poisonous snakes or wounded leopards!

But I'd be most afraid of facing any potentially dangerous situation unprepared.

And none of us can be prepared all the time.

On the other hand, I believe it was Confucius who said, "Good kitchens kill more men than sharp swords."

I guess my main concern is not the things which scare me, it's the things that don't scare me, but should.

On my first hunt in Africa, we were up very early driving down a narrow trail with heavy undergrowth on both sides. I was not particularly thinking of anything except the prospect of shooting an elephant (which I actually did, a few minutes later).

We emerged from the narrow trail into more open country, and my hunter breathed a deep sigh of relief. He said, "Thank God we didn't encounter a stampeding herd of elephants back there." When I looked blank, he went on, "If we had encountered elephants coming down that trail in the opposite direction, there was no place for us to go. They would simply have run over us." Then I breathed I sigh of relief, too.

Another time, we emerged on foot from some thick underbrush to see a small herd of elephants feeding on a tree laden with fruit. My hunter immediately turned around and waved me back in the direction we had come. After we had retreated out of earshot, he said, "Those elephants were feeding on fermented fruit. It will make them drunk as lords. If they had caught our scent, they would have been on us as quick as you can say 'knife'."

We continued to retreat rapidly, and in a few moments we heard a dreadful uproar, squealing and trumpeting in anger. "They picked up our scent." By this time we were fairly close to the hunting car and we lost no time getting in and departing.

Another time, I was out with my shotgun and gunbearer, looking for francolin to add to the dinner menu. Suddenly we flushed a small flock, but as I was swinging on one of the birds, I felt a hand on my arm and heard a voice in my ear saying, "Hapana piga!" with great urgency.
I brought the gun down and looked at Kaoli questioningly. He simply pointed.

There, about 75 yards away, standing in the shade with their rear ends in our direction was a family group of elephant. What their reaction would have been to being dusted in the rear with bird shot I do not know, but I am thankful not to have found out.

A careless hunter behind me with a gun, especially when closing in on game.


Mike

Wounded Lion.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Wounded Lion.

That should probably have been amongst the choices, and maybe would have been the scariest of all, but is something that few of us non-PHs will ever experience. Would be interesting to know how many wounded lions the different PHs have had to shoot. That's gotta take a few months off your life from stress for each one.

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:
Wounded Lion.

Yeah, Andrew, that one is seriously dangerous. Few things actually "scare" me - a poacher with an AK-47 who wants to stand and fight would do it, as I've always feared being under-armed in a firefight - but some excite me more than others.

For anyone who doesn't know about wounded Lion follow-up, I recommend you watch "In the Jaws of Simba" wherein my friend Peter Chipman of Zambia gets hit by a Lion wounded by his friend and business partner. Watch how amazingly FAST that Lion moves during the charge and count the number of shots fired at it. Peter was lucky that one of those shots broke the Lions jaw, thereby preventing it from locking down on his knee. None the less, the scars were serious when I hunted with Peter only months after the incident.

Having had the unexpected close encounter with both a black mamba and a spitting cobra I can say that nothing affects me similarly.

quote:

Originally posted by Cane Rat:
The travel to get there.

Agree..........

I voted for the wounded leopard. My comments are given below

Unexpected close encounter with venomous snake at close range - I grew up in India and worked as a Tea Planter and had many encounters with cobras and a few with vipers & Kraits. I have stood on the edge of a bushy fence line supervising the work down hill and herd a rustle at me feet and looked down to see a large 6 foot cobra quietly slinking away! It had been sunning itself and I had stood hardly 6 inches away from it!

In the water encounter with large dangerous shark - I cannot swim and I will never get into such a situation. I am actually terrified of getting into water that is more than 5 feet deep!

Having to wade across crocodile infested swamp - I cannot see myself ever even being in such a situation.

Closing in on several elephants, one of which you want - I have done this many time in India when accompanying my dad who was keen on photographing them. Not a big deal as long as you are with an experienced guide and can get to a car or a tree easily. We have walked within 20 meters with no problems. Just keep away from the calves & cows.

Walking to a lion bait in the dark, with lions and hyenas fighting over the bait - again it is a case of having experience guides. Wild lions (tigers or leopards) appear scary but will normally run away unless they are known man eaters or have been wounded.

Follow-up on possibly wounded leopard - yes this the THE one for me. I hope I get my leopard with my first shot DRT. Watching the video of the leopard charge on Martin Pieters is so scary even after seeing it 20 times.

Climbing along a steep ledge after mountain sheep - I'll change that to climbing DOWN after the hunt when I am absolutely tired. That is when I wish I had not gone up at all. My right knee is a mess and my ankle & hip have got referred damage - so this is a real problem for me.

And Naki, now you live in a country where the people are scared spitless by a "weta."

Dear Steve:

What absolutely terrifies me are the Obama administration's attempts to remove our firearms under the U. N. small arms initiative.

Losing my 2nd amendment rights, and supplimentary hunting rights is my first concern.

If you want to fight this administration's war on the 2nd amendment, then become a Life Member of the NRA.

I did.

Sincerely,

Chris Bemis

i am most scared by stupid politicians, been in all the other situations and can handle........

What scares me the most? Working for a company that is run by incompetents in a dying industry and never being able to hunt Africa again.

Waking up in a strange house, not knowing where I am or how I got there and the first words I hear are: "Mommy he's awake..."

Been a long time since that's happened...

quote:

Follow-up on possibly wounded leopard - yes this the THE one for me. I hope I get my leopard with my first shot DRT. Watching the video of the leopard charge on Martin Pieters is so scary even after seeing it 20 times.

Leopard will rarely kill you. Scratch you yes but a Lion will bite big pieces out of you, like your head.

Waking up in a hospital in a third world country with an IV in my arm being given a blood transfusion.

fat ugly woman wearing spandex!!!!!! wal mart buffalo!!!!!

quote:

Originally posted by MJines:
Waking up in a hospital in a third world country with an IV in my arm being given a blood transfusion.

Oh, yeah!

quote:

Originally posted by fairgame:

quote:

Follow-up on possibly wounded leopard - yes this the THE one for me. I hope I get my leopard with my first shot DRT. Watching the video of the leopard charge on Martin Pieters is so scary even after seeing it 20 times.

Leopard will rarely kill you. Scratch you yes but a Lion will bite big pieces out of you, like your head.

Thanks for that point Andrew. Yes I remember reading the same in Capstick's book as well. JA Hunter & Jim Corbet rated the leopard as more likely to get to you. Watching all the charging cat clips on Youtube makes it obvious that the whole thing happens so fast and the cats are trying to KILL!!!

Unexpected close encounter with venomous snake at close range -- I walked up on a yellow cobra in Zululand once and it reared up. Don't know what happened next because I turned and ran in terror. Have had dozens of close encounters with rattlesnakes of various sizes, including a four-footer that was sleeping outside my back door last week. I hate snakes, but I also know they usually try to avoid us.

In the water encounter with large dangerous shark -- I voted for this choice even though I have absolutely no experience with it. I have avoided wading or swimming in salt water after flying at low altitude down Mexico's Sea of Cortez mainland in a friend's Cessna and seeing how just many huge sharks were resting with their noses almost on the beach. Somehow being torn apart and eaten by a fish must be the scariest thing imaginable, followed very closely by being eaten by bears, crocs and lions and trampled and torn apart by elephants, rhinos, and buffaloes.

Having to wade across crocodile infested swamp -- Haven't done that and will not do that.

Closing in on several elephants, one of which you want -- I've walked up on a few elephants without seeing them and have experienced a few mock charges in Zimbabwe but have never hunted elephant. The most frightened I've ever been anywhere was when a cow decided it didn't like our open Land Rover (I was sitting in the back seat) and chased us through a herd that was blocking the two-track "road" we were on. We were so close to elephants as we roared past them that we could have touched one.

Walking to a lion bait in the dark, with lions and hyenas fighting over the bait -- been there, done that in Zambia, but was too green to realize what might have happened if we'd stumbled upon one of the lions --- until we found the shooting sticks we'd left set up in the blind had been knocked over by lions during the night.

Follow-up on possibly wounded leopard -- haven't done this, but as FairGame says, and everything I've read says, very few people have been killed by wounded leopards since the advent of antibiotics. If I ever hunt a leopard, I will do everything in my power to make it dead before it hits the ground.

Climbing along a steep ledge after mountain sheep -- usually doesn't bother me. I've only hunted desert sheep, but our little Coues white-tailed deer in southern Arizona frequently are found in rough terrain our sheep avoid. Rocky Mountain goats, tahr, ibex and feral goats are something else, though. How they live where they do without falling is beyond me. New Zealand's tahr country can be absolutely terrifying in April when those ledges still have some ice on them.

Bill Quimby

I don't care for the Sharks! They are an eating machine, so swiming in the ocean is not my first love, I use a "bang-stick" when I do such a task in the ocean. Love the reefs and don't like sharks period.

The snakes do not bother me that much, I carry a pistol for such encounters, loaded with #7.5 & #5 shot coming out of a .28 gauge shell.

Don't really like snakes; growing up I killed 3 of the 4 basci poisonous North American varieties in my backyard. It was also rumored there was a gator in Caney Creek which was the backyard; never saw it myself, but was on the phone with Mom when the sheriff's dept killed it. In my teen years I surfed the Texas coast, saw some sharks sometimes, spooky but didn't totally freak out about it.

However all my life I've been deathly afraid of heights, so I voted for the ledge.

quote:

Originally posted by LionHunter:
Yeah, Andrew, that one is seriously dangerous. Few things actually "scare" me - a poacher with an AK-47 who wants to stand and fight would do it, as I've always feared being under-armed in a firefight - but some excite me more than others.

For anyone who doesn't know about wounded Lion follow-up, I recommend you watch "In the Jaws of Simba" wherein my friend Peter Chipman of Zambia gets hit by a Lion wounded by his friend and business partner. Watch how amazingly FAST that Lion moves during the charge and count the number of shots fired at it. Peter was lucky that one of those shots broke the Lions jaw, thereby preventing it from locking down on his knee. None the less, the scars were serious when I hunted with Peter only months after the incident.

Were you referring to this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kR2PsY54hKM

Best-
Locksley,R

I thought the most fearful, scary thing, was a PH hearing the tent zipper when he was alone in the tent with the client's wife....

BTW, I would have previously voted hunting sheep or goats along a steep slope but voted follow up on a Leopard after my friend John Greeff's encounter....and follow up on a wounded lion is not very pleasant either! Been there done that!

My trophy tab at the end of the safari?

quote:

Originally posted by Tom In Tennessee:
I thought the most fearful, scary thing, was a PH hearing the tent zipper when he was alone in the tent with the client's wife....

Would the PH even have heard the tent zipper??