I was watching ESPN this morning and enjoying the various hunting shows. I started to turn down the volume and just enjoy the scenery on Cindy Garrison's "Get Wild" when I noticed she was lion hunting in western Tanzania. I then recalled that when I was hunting last year with TGT they mentioned that she would be coming to my same camp at Moyowosi for a similar lion hunt that I was on last July with my son. Interestingly, "Under Wild Skies" was to come in August after we left as well.
Anyway, it was cool to see on TV today both of our trackers, Remy and Hemesee (sp?), along with our game scout, John.
That was just the beginning of the similarities with our hunt. I saw the spot where the honey gatherers camp, but then I recognized the area that we hunted. In this huge concession, you'd think that would be hard, but I recognized that they were hunting in a heavily grassed area, which in Moyowosi later in the season, as was clearly the case on Cindy's hunt, would only be in the vicinity around their camp which TGT protected from fire so that lions and other animals would stay nearby for both convenience and aesthetics.
When we hunted there we got a nice lion on bait very near camp. We had heard him most nights, too, which was great considering how nearby he was. So when I saw that Cindy was in this heavily grassed area, long after the Moyowosi fires had burned virtually everything else, I began to wonder if she was hunting the same lion that we did. This lion we had hunted was 5 years old. This lion was very easily distinguishable in that he had no mane between his ears, which was pointed out over and over to us during our hunt as being very unique for the area. I began to wonder if they had put Cindy and the TV show on the same lion that we had hunted a few weeks before her arrival. Would we soon see this unique lion and would they say that she would have to pass it up because it was only 5 years old?
Well, the answer to both questions was "Yes." Here's a picture of the lion that I was able to get from some video. You can't see the area between the ears in this pic, but we saw it clearly at other times that we came up on the lion.
My question is, since the trackers and game scout well knew about this lion and the fact it was not a shooter, what do you think about Cindy (who had a different PH than we did) being taken there to hunt it again after we left?

quote:

Originally posted by Spring:...My question is, since the trackers and game scout well knew about this lion and the fact it was not a shooter, what do you think about Cindy...being taken there to hunt it again after we left?

Was she hunting or filming a hunt?

It is really neat to see the places you've been to on TV, especially while channel surfing and you don't expect it. There were a few done from Peter Chipman's area in the Luangwa Valley including one with his nephew "Sarge" recently, and Bodington's TAA shows from Sapi take me right back there. Although my wife gets tired of the "LOOK, LOOK, there's the campfire that we blah blah..." outbursts!

Bill,
Yes, she was hunting. Her PH was Douglas McNeil, who seems to get on all the safari shows these days. I would suspect we'll see several other episodes from her 2005 hunt in Moyowosi in the coming weeks. It will be interesting to see if Tony Makris also hunts this same cat on his shows this season!

Spring,
I saw that show this AM and last Sunday too.

I did notice that Doug was looking very subdued and kind of sad about this. He was obviously not excited, or "on point" at any time he was on film during this "hunt."

Doug looked bored.

I think it was a planned foregone conclusion that they were going to get some photogenic footage of Cindy in the blind, and no lion would be shot.

Sure.

The "Cindy Garrison Comedy/Cheese Cake Half Hour" is not a real hunting show.

Sure.

Nice scenery though.

I've never done entertainment television, but I have done a lot of public information stuff. My experience is that you shoot two kinds of video and edit later. You shoot the actual footage of your activities, then you shoot a lot of hours of B roll. The B roll is your guaranteed stuff. If you don't get anything real good on your action shots, you do the B roll and edit, polish and add music. Most of what you see on the news and on TV is put together this way. I suspect this is what happened here. You need some footage. Even though I've never hunted lions, I would be willing to bet that somewhere in discussions, somebody said, 'Hey, we need baits out where we know there will be some activity.' And your lion became a TV star. Could be wrong, but it is all magic on television.

Spring,
I wonder how long they have been training that lion to come to the baits? How many more years will they continue before the 5 year-old with no mane between his ears becomes shootable?

Do you feel like you got "took to the cleaners" on lion?

Will Tony Makris get took to the cleaners too or will he be planning to show some footage without a kill?

Is this some sort of lion racket?

It works out good for them..... They get to sell lots more 21 day hunts then they have lion quota.

If that is really going on then they should be brought up on charges.... But I wouldn't be surprised if Cindy's producer didn't want to pay for a Lion hunt but wanted the footage so just told them to take her to an area of an underage male.

Rip,
I don't think I was taken "to the cleaners" on my hunt as I was the first person to hunt Moyowosi in 2005. I agreed that the lion looked about 5 as he did have a pride with him and the cubs appeared younger than 6 months. We had quite a few lion baits going and never came across any long mane hairs suggesting an older male. If anything, I think this concession, and probably most others in Tanzania, are adjusting to the more stringent age requirements as the population of male lions builds up to a significant number in the 6 and older age bracket. The over killing of 4 and 5 year old males in the recent past by most safari companies will take a couple of years to recover from. If anything, I suspect I was impacted by the fact that 2005 was only the 2nd year that TGT has managed Moyowosi. Many of Mark Sullivan's vidoes were made there a while back.
As for Tony Makris, I do know that no lions were taken in Moyowosi in 2005. He was lion hunting when there, so we know he did not get one. I'm sure they wanted some lion footage, so this "star" lion might be in your living room again soon...

Spring,
Did you maybe met a guy Andre Badenhorst while you were hunting with TGT?

Sprring
I saw that show too. Your comments confirm my suspicions about the way things are done.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

Is this some sort of lion racket?

I think this is even more prevalent with bull ele's than lions, It's the reason I didn't book bull elephant. I think even though there is a slim chance of the surprise trophy the operators for the most part already know what's there.

Seeing as how I haven't set foot in Africa yet my beliefs don't hold much weight, especially with the ones who have something for sale.

Letter Rip : I like it! Do you have wives/gf's in all those states you post from?

RayRay,
Just an old Dagaboy past his prime here. Been with the same cow for over 30 years, two calves. I may be in a satellite mudhole, but I am still trailing the herd whenever I can keep up.

Definitely gotta watch out for the rackets.

quote:

Originally posted by RayRay:
Sprring
I saw that show too. Your comments confirm my suspicions about the way things are done.

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:

Is this some sort of lion racket?

I think this is even more prevalent with bull ele's than lions, It's the reason I didn't book bull elephant. I think even though there is a slim chance of the surprise trophy the operators for the most part already know what's there.

Seeing as how I haven't set foot in Africa yet my beliefs don't hold much weight, especially with the ones who have something for sale.

Letter Rip : I like it! Do you have wives/gf's in all those states you post from?

I always thought that Lions stay relatively in the same area but Elephant tend to roam a much larger area. Can anyone confirm this?

quote:

Originally posted by RIP:
Been with the same cow for over 30 years, two calves.

You are living on the edge there! I guess she is unlikely to read the forums...