Hail to the King!

Nice lion!

Wow!

Very Nice, if only

Egad, that kitty is a stud

king of beasts, no doubt

Mike, looks like he came out of the Comcast commercial with rogaine and power boost..
Well that's the cat I am after in 09... I'll have to cowboy up and 'geter done'... Just give me the location..

Mike

Getting a lion like that is a snowballs chance in ..... I mean someone has a real good chance at a lion like that. No worries.

I understand the RSA has some real good lions like that on quota. Better book now!

What a magnificent animal. Look at that hair on his loins. He looks like a Barbary Lion. Is he in a zoo?

Here's another one that would stop your heart if you saw him in the wild:

mrlexma, here's another one close to home for you. He's in the Boston Zoo:

Now those are the quality of Lion of which dreams are made.

Forrestb, I want one like the two you posted, where are they? Looks like a snow leopard in the background of the first photo, I want one of those too!

The first one is a retired movie star and the second one lives at the Boston Zoo.

Here's another one that lives in a pen near Bozeman, Mt. How about the thick fur on the body of this guy:

That lion is gay.

He is an Asiatic lion, which surprised me. We photographed him over the summer at the Bioparco (or Giardino Zoologico) in Rome.

He is very old. His teeth are worn to nubs and he is so arthritic that he can barely walk.

Still, we stood just steps from him as he grunted, coughed and roared for a good ten minutes. What a beast!

ForrestB, that lion at the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston is remarkable. He and the lowland gorillas are my favorites.

Here is a wild one at least- from one of my Kalahari areas (about 60 000 acres big, so some smart-*** will propalby call it "canned" also!)

One more, of the mighty old king, tired and beaten, but still liege lord of all he surveys.



And yet one more, of a winged Griffon, from a piazza off the Grand Canal in Venice.

Oooo, that Kalahari lion looks really good to me. They just look better in the wild of course...not quite so defeated, master of their domain, etc. Karl, did a client get it?

Karl: Beautiful, simply beautiful. Mrlexma: Very true!

Guys,

All the lions here look good but this one looks mean.

Hamdeni

quote:

Originally posted by Karl S:
Here is a wild one at least- from one of my Kalahari areas (about 60 000 acres big, so some smart-*** will propalby call it "canned" also!)

He may be a zoo animal. But he is a mighty exemplar nonetheless.

"No description could give a correct idea of the surpassing beauty of this most majestic animal, as he lay still warm before me. I lighted a fire and gazed with delight upon his lovely mane, his massive arms, his sharp yellow nails, his hard and terrible head, his immense and powerful teeth, his perfect beauty and symmetry throughout; and I felt that I had won the noblest prize that this wide world could yield to a sportsman."

Roualeyn Gordon Cumming. Botswana. 1848.

Still true. 2007.

I've yet to see a dead lion in person. I want to look at one closely. I've always been awed by the size of their forearms.

Forrest, the lion in Bozeman...do you have other photos of him in his enclosure or know more about it? I would like to see him someday in my travels. He's probably thick-coated because of the weather there.

quote:

Karl, did a client get it?

Unfortunately (FORTUNATELY FOR THE LION), we where not after lion. I think that even if I orginised the neccicary paperwork, the pricetag might have scared the first time PG-only hunter more than the lion!!!

Here's the big male that is in the Auckland, New Zealand Zoo.

Here's a lion I saw in Botswana in 2005. He sure isn't as black as some of the others posted but he is wild and does have a pretty big mane.

YD,
I don't have any other pictures or info about the Bozeman lion. I pulled that photo link off the web.

I've killed one lion and have only seen one other lion after it was killed. I have to say that no other animal suffers "ground shrinkage" as much as a lion; not in terms of size but in terms of stature. They are magnificent animals and their physical strength is still apparent but they just look pitiful to me when dead. When alive they look so regal and have that "king of the jungle" air about them...it vanishes with their last breath.

KARL,
I know of a place in the Kalahari, can't recall the name off hand, but they reportedly have a number of big black maned Lions that are huntable..They are behind a high fence and their geneology may or may not be wild, but they exist under a wild guise and some were actually born and bred on the property, they exist wild and are not fed. The are as close to wild as you can get I suppose but that fence is still there and some will pass because of that, although the concession is probably 100,000 hecters, and that is as large as most Tanzania concessions. Someday I will visit that place and look it over. I would love to see these Lions.

I am not going to sit in judgment of this as I know it may actually be the salvation of the species in the long run. At any rate I think these folks are on the right track and that they are something right..It seems to me these Lions would be trans-plantable to Tanzania or anyplace in Africa and be able to survive. That would be a good market and may someday be the norm..who knows.

ForrestB, that is true.

Lions are greatly diminished in death. I think it's because they are so fearsome and powerful in life.

But even in death, when you can examine them up close, they are impressive beasts. Their fang-filled jaws can open wide enough to bite through a human skull. Their shoulder and arm muscles are bands of steel. Their dewclaws are sharpened meat hooks. Their forepaws are the size of dinner plates and bristle with gutting knife claws.

When you see all of that up close, you are damned glad he is dead and you aren't!

I can understand what you're saying about ground shrinkage. That happens to some degree with any animal but especially predators and regal animals. My PH said he loves sable but when they're dead they look like a donkey.

quote:

KARL,
I know of a place in the Kalahari, can't recall the name off hand, but they reportedly have a number of big black maned Lions that are huntable..They are behind a high fence and their geneology may or may not be wild, but they exist under a wild guise and some were actually born and bred on the property, they exist wild and are not fed. The are as close to wild as you can get I suppose but that fence is still there and some will pass because of that, although the concession is probably 100,000 hecters, and that is as large as most Tanzania concessions. Someday I will visit that place and look it over. I would love to see these Lions.

I am not going to sit in judgment of this as I know it may actually be the salvation of the species in the long run. At any rate I think these folks are on the right track and that they are something right..It seems to me these Lions would be trans-plantable to Tanzania or anyplace in Africa and be able to survive. That would be a good market and may someday be the norm..who knows.

Ray, the above ion and his comrades live in a simmlar situation. The big male (shown), plus 3 females broke through from the park about 4 years ago, after which they where darted and taken back to the park. The obviously liked the ajacent area better, because they crawled the park fence again, and has been living, breeding (they are now 8 in total), and scaring people since then on this property, which are fenced as I have stated ,on the perimeter. The currnet owners of this property are keen to hunt them all down, and as this is Kalahari, they are quite easy to track.

In addition to these lions, a few others have come and gone through the parks fences from time to time.

I got an email from the owner of the property of the huge Lion that Karl posted. The Lion is 12 years old, has lived wild on that property for all of those 12 years, feeding on the available game in the area which is quite extensive, they have the largest herd of Gemsbok in RSA, and most of the RSA species of plainsgame..

The owner has commissioned me to sell this Lion and several others from several prides that exist there. The area is really large, as large as most concessions anywhere in Africa. This is a legetamate hunt IMO..

This Lion will make the record book, and could be number one I have been told..

It's pretty exciting to say the least.

The only lion in Sweden:

king Karl XII pointing out where the enemy is (east!)

I have the details on Karls Lion...It will have to be a tracking hunt and expect to walk a lot. It is a 9 day hunt and he won't come to bait, or at least won't hit the bait during daylight, but could be followed from the bait...You can also shoot a 40 inch of better Gemsbok with this hunt and the property apparantly has the largest Gemsbok herd in Africa..The Lion is about 14 years old and they have decided to shoot him. there are other lions on the property but this one is the only one that can be shot. After much discussion I consider this lion a wild lion and not confined. He stayed on the property because of the available food sources and will not stay in the park..He has been there for a long time now.

For interested parties that are serious about hunting this Lion contact me for more information at the below email or telephone.

I just wish I could afford to hunt this old boy and I'm not an avid cat hunter, but a tracking hunt for this quality of lion is my lifelong dream...

The cost of this hunt will run about $68,000 after some long negociations. IMO it is a once in a lifetime hunt. I always wanted a tracking Lion hunt, as they can be so agressive when tracked, and when pushed to the limit they will turn and fight about everytime.