I need some advice about a lion hunt.

An acquaintance of mine owed me a nice chunk of money, and I let it ride for about 4 years (i.e. didn't bug him about it).

That acquaintance just purchased a hunting concession in Africa, and wants me to hunt it.

He is offering me a lion hunt at a ridiculously low price (and this is an honorable guy, so he is not pulling something over on me).

Here is the issue: I have always (by choice) hunted animals I could eat. My father started me hunting when I was about 5, and it was something he always emphasised (in a good way).

I have hunted Africa before, and knew that what I shot was never wasted.

I would love to take a lion, for lots of reasons.
But, for me, it seems like I am shooting an animal (in this case) just because of it's majesty.

Please don't take this as a criticism of others who hunt lion....this is one of those personal decisions we all make about hunting.

Any thoughts or suggestions?

Garrett

Garrett,

Nothing wrong with eating lion. I happened to shoot one last year lion hunt The whole lion has been wolfed down in no time. We eat the filets, sure it tastes like veal.
If the meat is well cooked (medium-rare), there is no risk, not even Trichinosis.

So, no expectations, jump on this opportunity, shoot and eat your lion. Good luck

As Jean Bernard has said, lion meat is edible, and some say even quite tasty. Both of the ones I have killed were eaten. Not by me, but by local villagers and camp staff. Nothing was wasted.

In fact, true believers will tell you that certain lion parts have special "ju-ju" and will fight over who gets to eat them!

As to lion hunting in general, there are four kinds. Canned hunting, which is deplorable. Hunting over bait, which is okay but not the best. Calling them, which I know Jean Bernard has done. And tracking and stalking them on foot, which is, IMO, among the absolute best hunting on earth.

A lion hunt that requires one to track and stalk one or more free-ranging animals, on foot, is among the most intense, dangerous and emotionally draining and physically demanding hunts imaginable.

Following them through thick brush as they growl, grunt, caterwaul, purr, cough and roar ahead of you, and often double back on you, or circle you, turn the tables and come after you--has to be experienced to be appreciated. All the while, often for hours on end, you must be constantly alert, focused and tensed for a shot or a charge.

I have done this twice, and would jump at the chance to do it again. I have also hunted lion over bait, or more precisely, tried to hunt lion over bait, and like any hunting over bait, and from a blind, I found it boring by comparison.

Garrett,
We all have to justify the reason we kill or have someone do the killing for us. Some don't like fur coats because we don't eat the meat and so on. The bottom line is dead is dead no matter what the reason we kill. I was brought up much the same way you were but I have softened my views a lot over the years.
Merry Christmas, Bryan

N. Garrett:

Your sentiments do you credit. The sad fact is that we hunters (and I'm 75 and hunted since I was 12 for nearly 60 years afterwards by myself) want to hunt animals whose majesty impresses us -just as many of us hunted other DG because of the element of danger involved. It happens that on my one and only trip to Africa (for buff) my outfitter, himself a licensed PH, was considered a "lion man" that the Zimbabwe Ministry of Parks and Game (as it was called back in 1993) used to call upon to deal with "problem lions". {Translation - they were killing farmers' cattle} and I heard many stories about lions. (Like all men who have been in combat he never told any stories about himself) I gathered that the lion in a charge is a truly heart stopping sight. From what I heard he comes very quickly and with a confusing (to a shooter)movement because it's close to the ground but covering ground VERY quickly! He also makes it perfectly plain that it is YOU that he wants. According to what I heard, the charge of an elephant or even a Cape buffalo is like standing on the tracks of a railroad train. If you get out of the way, you'll be OK. A lion won't let you just "get out of the way". You picked this fight! He means to finish it! (Of course, I mean, actual stalk and hunt of a lion and not over bait) I happen to be with your sentiments. I never saw a picture of a shot lion where he looked "majestic" at all. But you may want to think about turning down your friend's offer because it all depends on why you want to hunt at all. Refusing to shoot a lion does not disqualify you from the brotherhood of hunters! Just my thoughts.

Any trophy taken must get the neccessary respect. If it is one of your dreams and everything is legal do it because nobody knows if you will have this chance again in 4 yaers time or so. There are a lot of changes with regard to predator hunting in Africa and this could change for the better or the worse - only time will tell.

I agree tracking a lion is very exciting and andrenalin pumping stuff!

My suggestion to you is to go hunt the king of beasts! To get over your "ethical dilemma", have the cook grind up some lion meat and serve it to you as a breakfast sausage.

It is probably the only chance you'll get to recoup the money your friend owes you.

George

Gerry,

Your statement about a lions charge is so true.
I'm told the older lion hunters purposely dropped to one knee (to be parallel with the lion) so that a second shot would be more likely to connect.

I don't mean to sound pedantic, but the reason the great cats (and even house cats) can do this very interesting.
I am a neurosurgeon, and used to do research in spinal cord injuries.
Sometimes cats weren't a good research animal for this area because it turns out that some of the complex (mediated) motor activity was generated in the spinal cord itself, rather than the brain. You can sever a cats spinal cord in certain places, and they can still walk and run on a treadmill.
Our nerve impulses travel the same speed as a buffalo (from brain to spinal cord)...that's why you can jump out of the way if you have to.
In a cat, the clawing, grabbing, jumping, lunging, righting, etc come straight from the spinal cord. No intervening "what should I do next...go left or right?"

We can't compete with that, because it travels from cortex to spinal cord first for us.
Quick as a cat really is...

Garrett

Garett,

Go shoot your lion. Both lion and leopard are more than edible and we have eaten both and enjoyed it greatly. Lion fillet and leopard tenderloins are really quite nice.

Mark

NG,

I had the privledge to hunt and harvest a bull ele at 30 feet and a buf at 45 yds...Exciting to say the least...
I won a buf hunt last year on AR to the Selous 2006...I added 5 days to make it a 21 day safari..Giving me the chance for leopard and lion...as well as all the other big animals...
I consider this a privledge and am going to enjoy myself and if the reds gods deem it so..I will succeed..If not I was there and attempted it...
To go and attempt it by fair chase is what hunting is all about...

The best,

Mike

N. Garrett,

Give it a go. Nothing would be wasted even if you chose not to try eating it. Personally I would live to try it. I have hunted lions by tracking and baiting, Not successful but a great hunt either way.

Not to pick a fight or anything, just to point out the inconsistencies of life; but anyone eat the cats from the lab?

JPK

Garrett,

All are right,

Go, sweat a lot and shoot your lion. Then eat the tenderloins and the filets. If the skinner don't steal the kobolos, pumbus in swahili and balls in English, taste them to enhance your mettle.
Mlexma, is right, the very best is tracking the lion. I did it twice in Burkina. Nothing is more vivid, more trying. You are atrociously close to the lion, you feel it, you hear it, you are shaking out of your skin and in the end the lion like a nightmare has disappeared and you remain relieved and at the same time more beaten and desperate than an admirer dismissed by his girl friend.
No hesitations.

garrett

As a biologist, I am most pleased of the information you gave us concerning the neurotransmission of the infos in cats.
The reflex ark is far shorter, the reflex only takes the place of the reflection. I understand why a leopard is called an "angry chainsaw".
Good luck

Garrett:

Thank you for a most interesting and informative post. Occasionally I had always wondered why the cats were so supple and quick compared to most other mammals.(How many other mammals falling out of a tree can recover and "land on their feet"?) I am not a domestic cat "lover" (at least I don't think I am!) but I always found them to be interesting animals and I always watch a cat when I see one. (BTW, can I interest you in shooting a leopard instead? Beautiful coloring and hated by locals in the deep bush. I was told that the leopard will hunt man without provocation - one of the very few predators who will, the others being a polar bear and the jaguar. {Of course, a lion will take someone stupid enough to be walking in the bush after dark but ordinarily neither he nor the tiger are "man eaters"} Anyway, thanks for the post and I think you are the kind of hunter that John Dos Passos was talking about when he wrote: " It is not all of hunting to kill".