Having just flicked through Cappies 'Death in a Lonely Land' I found myself reading through the chapter entitled 'The Killer Baboons of Vlackfontain' where it seemed, at times, he almost regretted killing baboons

Quotes include,

"an odd feeling of ancestral murder running through the dark back of my brain"

"I greatly dislike killing baboons"

"the creepy regret I feel when I have to destroy a baboon"

This got me wondering how those of you who have been to Africa and bagged one felt just after the kill. What went through your mind? Did you feel guilty or did you want to dash off and get another one?

Just interested.

One of my favorite things to shoot....Nasty vermin. Vervet monkeys would be second. Don't kid yourself they are hard to shoot...and most of the time you only get one shot. The bigger the rifle the better...quick kills are less un-nerving. I don't like to see them suffer.

Urdubob

British,

I was hunting on a ranch in RSA and every time we would get into stalking Kudu this large male Baboon would give the alarm call. After 4 or 5 ruined stalks It gave me great pleasure to blow that sucker away.

Hawkeye47

I felt fine after every one I've shot. No guilt whatsoever. As a matter of fact, baboons are very worthy adversaries.

Perhaps Capstick was 'in his cups' when he wrote those passages.

George

I will always remember a half-crazed Afrikaaner screaming insults and threats running into the bush with a .22 pistol shooting wildly at anything that moved when the Vervit monkeys crossed our path.

urdubob

Feels over the killing of my first baboon?

I liked it! In fact, I liked it so much that I made a personal pledge from that point on to shoot more of them as targets of opportunity. But just the old males. Those are the REAL baboon trophies....

AD

I can't stand baboons and they're always on my personal quarry list..... One of the areas I hunt in Tanzania has a lot of albino baboons, but so far I've not been able to get a shot at any of them..... but it's only a matter of time, and what a great trophy it will make!!!!

"an odd feeling of ancestral murder running through the dark back of my brain"



Not me. If you combine some solids, a PH who despises baboons and a lazy (can't get his ass out of the hunting car) game scout, it is amazing how many baboons you can "miss" during a 16 day safari.



Regards,



Terry

I shot two older, troop leader, baboons on my last safari. My PH was constantly pushing me to shoot baboons. For some reason I didn't really like it after I shot my first one (a very challenging shot). I shot the 2nd at the persistance of my PH (he HATES them). After that I kept telling my PH "no" when he told me to shoot a baboon. I allowed him to prod me into shooting at one more baboon after my first two. The baboon was approx. 100 yrds away and partially covered by an anthill he was sitting on. I took an offhand shot with my 375H&H. Now, up until that point (5 days into my safari), I had made every shot I attempted with that rifle and some pretty lucky ones at that. Well, I missed the baboon by an inch and hit the anthill. My PH turned to me and in all seriousness said "you missed that baboon on purpose". Who knows, maybe I did.

Just don't like shooting them that much, although I do have the bleached skulls displayed on the mantle of my fireplace.

Tim

I enjoyed the hunt I had for them. I would like to hunt them again. I don't have any baboons in my ancestry so it doesn't bother me at all. I like to hear the rest go crazy when you shoot one.
Doug

I hunted in Zim last May and a baboon was part of my package deal. My girlfriend said it would be bad luck to shoot one, so I didn't. I just think she really didn't want me to shoot one. I think it was a primate issue with her. Any way, I saw quite a few on my hunt but didn't shoot. My PH said I was the only American he guided that would not jump at the chance to shoot one. Well, baboon or no god dam baboon, I had some bad luck on this hunt. I wounded an eland bull and lost him after 5 hours of tracking him. So much for baboon luck. Well, I don't have a neat baboon skull to show off, but my luck or un-luck took a change for the better. Two hours before I was to leave camp to go back to Bullawayo, one of the game scouts found my eland. He was dead and bloated and his eyes and tong were pecked out. I will at least have an eland euro mount, although I hated to wound and make suffer such a beautiful animal.
Would I kill a baboon on my next hunt? At this point in time I can't even answer that question. Before my girlfriend had mentioned the bad luck issue, I would have shot one and not thought twice about it. Now I just don't know. I just hope I have no baboon luck or un-luck on my next hunt, or I just might shoot one of those guy's in the butt.

We had more fun "whacking" baboons than any other game in Zim. In fact, they are putting 6 on our quota for next time. They are mean, clever, and are always outta range. We were taking 300+ yard shots at them, when everything else we shot was less than 100. Lots of fun!!! Highly recommended!!! Jeff < !--color-->

The only reason to feel guilty about "ancestral murder" is if you have a monkey for an uncle!

This is pretty funny stuff as some folks feel like they have taken a human life with the killing of a baboon, thats the problem lets face it...

Some feel guilty as they may have shot one of the camp staffs kin...You know when one of the indigenous of Africa die, there spirit sometimes returns in the form or a baboon and that is why the camp staff is very shy to down right fearful around baboons....

That said, I never had any problems shooting them....

I shot a baboon and loved it! They are mean, vicious bastards and I am happy to have a chance to shoot them.

When we got the 'boon back to camp, the PH told the head tracker that the baboon looked like a black person. The head tracker said that the baboon looked like a white man because baboons have straight hair!!

The skinner didn't want to skin the thing, however.

I loved it!! It's like shooting giant prarie dogs!

BOWHUNR

I shot one with a solid once by accident. We all thought it was dead and walked up to it. It wasnt and looked me in the square in the eyes. It was the worst feeling I have ever had after shooting something. Just recalling it I feel bad. I could see and feel its anger, clearly in shock but none the less it was pissed off. I wish I hadnt shot it.

There is no reaosn not to shoot Baboons, especially the old troop leaders! These guys have gotten to be dangerous in many of the parks, actually killing kids in some cases. They are smart, and are a real fair chase hunt, if you want a wise old male war leader! The teeth of a Baboon, make a Leopard look like a vegetarian!

Two animals many people have a problem shooting are Baboons, or any ape/monkey, and Hyenas. Both are fine trophies, and both make fine full body mounts for the trophy room!

I don't like baboons. You leave them alone and they'll blow your stalk as a reward. After passing up several rather excellent chances to kill some baboons my PH one day yelled "there they are" and off we went in the vehicle chasing after a rather large troop. The slaughter was significant and killing the males didn't bother me. While we were doing the body count there was a female high in a tree over 200 yards away pointing us out. I told my PH I wanted to snipe one out of tree at a distance and this was my opportunity. Up went the 06 and down went the baboon. When I walked up she lay stone cold dead but unlike the males she seemed way too human like for me. I didn't even want to touch her. So no more females for me BUT SLAUGHTER THE MALES INDISCRIMINANTLY!

Baboons are not apart of my ancestrel history nor of any other humans for that matter. They are just another animal that has a tendency to be a pest.

Shooting a chimp or gorilla might be unpleasant. Not because we have kinship with them but because they are too much like us.

Well, I am not responding to any one person, I read all of them. I guess I have a cold, cold heart on this issue. I cannot get excited about them as a trophy, but they will make some conversation. I wonder where the anti-hunt people would be on this item. Anyway, I operated on an entirely different agenda.

In the Sudan, in those wonderful by-gone days of the '70's. I shot them to feed the natives. Some villages wanted them badly and others not so as they thought they were a relative. I probably shot in the area of 200 in the months spent there and could have shot more and given them to hungary people. However, I generally had to ration the .375 Flanged Mag. or .300 H&H or I would run out of ammo and did on one trip.

Judge if you must, but not on what is politically correct. Judge based on the time, the place and the circumstances.

African Hunter

Been a long time since Ive heard the expression "in his cups". Got a kick out of it.

Kill them, kill them all, every last one, babies and all. I believe that captures to essence of my love for bobos.

I have a collection of bobo skulls that would make Jeffrey Dahmer blush.

It does not bother me at all to shoot them, they are another huntable animal, but I surely do not hate them or any other animal, Africa would not be the Africa I know without the baboon...I respect all creatures. the vultures, Hyenas, Baboons, they are all part of the African scene...

If I have to waste my time hateing then I will reserve that for liberal democrats!!, and the screwed up legal system closed season on them and just like the California Bears and cougers, they are eating up our children.....

Ray - You�re confusing bobos with animals. They are nothing more than two-legged bullet traps with a tail.

Quote:

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This baboon was taken at 8:30 am on the last day. We had to leave for the airport at 9am but Hermann wanted to get in an early hunt so I would have a chance to get jackal #10. I got a jackal and five minutes before we arrived back at the house I bagged this baboon. What a way to end a perfect Hunt.

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Truth is I felt a bit bad as this old boy was standing on a fence post trying to round up his troops. I never feel any remorse at a clean kill but all three of my baboons have been an exception to this rule.

Jason

I wanted to shoot a baboon last spring but after i saw it�s tracks I had second thoughts: They looked like human handprints. Shooting the vervet was no problem at all. I�d still like a baboon skull but I�m not sure of my feelings.

Boha told me of a case where a guy wounded a baboon and when he found it the animal was stuffing mud into the bullet hole. Looked real human trying to patch itself up.

Think about it.

I have never been to Africa.Never killed a baboon.I do like to read African stories and watch films about Africa and it's wildlife.One such video showed a sample of baboon bad behavior including a troop killing a families pet dog.
I would have no compunction what ever to kill'em all.
Big,small,short or tall...send them to baboon hell.I think I
would even go out of my way to kill them.Of course this is
conjecture never setting foot in Africa,but I feel the same
for coyotes and wolves too.

If I have a rilfe with me and I may shoot a baboon I hopefully end up with dead baboon.

Not that I hate them just love to shoot them
That goes for vervet monkeys as well. Come to think of it it would be a great challenge to shoot one with a handgun at close range.

On my last trip to Zim there were quite a few baboons in the area...so many they were a nuisance. I shot a big male early in the trip and didn't think about shooting any more until the camp manager's dog got killed by a couple of baboons. As I had taken everything on my quota except hyaena, he ask the PH if he would "make a plan and thin them out a bit" so for the next few days we checked hyaena baits early and shot baboons .... I used my spare rifle, a 350 Rem Mag, and shot up 3 boxes of ammo. The plan was simple....tracker would drive as fast as he could to get us close and the PH and I would jump out as soon as the truck stopped and blaze away.... 3 or 4 shots each before they were out of range. The camp staff etc seemed to get a kick out of it when we brought them back to camp...they wanted pics taken with the dead baboons and they kidded each other about who each baboon looked like the most.

We put a dent in the local population.