There's something I've been wondering about for many years. And I ask this as one who's read and enjoyed the major works on African hunting (Bell, Taylor and Capstick) and as one who's spent a lifetime hunting non-dangerous game in the states.

I wouldn't mind going to Africa and hunting plains game, assuming I could find a place to display a trophy. And assuming I could personally eat some of the meat from the kill. And I can well understand wanting to take a leopard from a blind. In fact I once really wanted to hunt jaguars in Central America when that was possible, to have one mounted and for the experience.

There's a "but" however. While I can see having one of the Big Boys as a trophy, what I have always had trouble wrapping my mind around is how to think of it as "fun" to get up close and personal or "in their face" before pulling the trigger. For the professionals I understand it. For Bell and those guys, they were ivory hunters. It was their calling. For the same reason I understand it being a PH's job. I'd probably do the same if I were already used to it and was getting paid.

But, tell me, am I right or wrong. For the hunting client is the whole point really just to face life threatening danger? Is it similar to the thrill in sky-diving, driving a race car, or maybe scuba? I've done scuba including wall dives down to 120 feet where you look up and can no longer see the surface and you have to exhale the entire way up, open ocean night dives and dives to explore the insides of sunken ships, underwater treasure hunting and inside caves at night looking for lobsters- if all that's any comparison. It's not something I'd do again because I know now what could have happened. But at the time I didn't think it was particularly dangerous. My view of danger then was different and I thought I could handle whatever came up.

Let me put it another way. I used to know this fellow who owned a well known local sporting goods store. Big time hunter of just about everything. He had a lot of African mounts, which I always found fascinating. I asked him one day about whether he faced a charge from any of these and what that was like. His answer I never forgot. He said "that's something you have to create".

So, with the Big Five is facing a charge or risking one what it's really all about?

Anyway, it's unlikely I'll ever make it over there now. Just too old. But, if I did I think I'll stand back aways to make the shot...

quote:

But, if I did I think I'll stand back aways to make the shot...

Despite all the chest thumping I suspect most do...

well sometimes it's the best excuse for filling your pants since you were in diapers

I will try to share some knowledge with you, but comprehension can only be had by doing.

Africa in itself is a experience like no other I can imagine. If you start out with Plains Game or not, sooner or later you will want to try on one of the Big Boys for size. When you get out of the hunting vechile and load the DG Rifle things change. And Yes, the tought of "I could get Hurt" should cross your mind. You now know what the true form of hunting is. You see the Trackers take up the trail and watch as they sort out the signs. You become aware of several things. The Wind direction, How much noise you make walking, The surroundings, and so on. When you first spot the quarry you forget how tired you are, how much the Rifle weighs, How hot the temperature is, How thristy you are. You become focused as the PH trys to find the right animal and line you up for a shot. It may be a simple as setting up the shooting sticks or laying on a termite mound for over an hour in the sun. A lot of things cross your mind then, like everyone else here has done their job. Now can I do mine when the time comes. If you are skilled or at least lucky it will be a clean kill. Words will fail you to describe what you feel then. Hope I've not got to carried away here, for I have only touched the Tip of the Iceberg when it come to hunting DG be it in Africa or anywhere else. Just my .02 cents worth.

Wouldn't doing something solely because it's dangerous be the definition of stupidity? Since I wouldn't classify the vast majority of the people who I know who hunt "dangerous" game to be stupid, I don't think the "danger" aspect is the reason for most people.

If we really believed it was dangerous, I don't think we'd do it. I think our innate instinct for self-preservation would hold us back. We do everything we can to ensure our safety; hence the fixation on CRF vs. PF vs. Double rifles and our fascination with bullet performance. If we were really danger seekers, we'd all be hunting buffalo with push-feed 45/70's...

From a pure danger standpoint, hunting sheep and other mountain species or driving to your hunting concession is probably statistically far more dangerous than hunting the big 5.

Pete

A really interesting thread. Shack asks about "danger" -and I shudder (who barely learned to swim) about his recounting what it's like to get into the darkness of deep water while scuba diving. I hunted in North America for nearly 50 years before I ever saw Africa. I think I wanted to see Africa is why I went - and I picked nyati because he seemed to make an 8000 mile trip worthwhile! Danger? Sure, I thought of it -and even at 63 years of age then, I still wanted to go. (Who wants to lug a 375 or even heavier around the bush to shoot at an impala?) BTW,anyone contemplating a trip should go. Definitely. Africa is something I am very happy that I did not miss.

Of course facing danger is the attraction, or at least for me a key factor. That's why we distinguish dangerous game hunting - with all of its attendant risks - from all other kinds of hunting.

When the the hunter knows that his quarry can maul, trample, gore, claw, bite, stomp and kill him, the entire hunting experience is altered in a fundamental way.

If all goes as plannned, and the hunter performs well, there will be little or no danger and the game will be cleanly killed. That is as it should be and what all hunters of dangerous game strive to achieve.

But if the hunter is unskilled or negligent at his task, or is simply unlucky, then the danger can be fatal to him and to those who accompany him.

There are no stakes higher than that.

Some have a lower limit of real or perceived danger, some have a higher limit.

Charges happen, but they happen a lot more frequently when you hunt aggressively to close with buff or elephant closely. Some want that.

Personally, when possible, and it ussually is, I prefer to approach an elephant until it turns to us. You then have a moment to raise your rifle and kill the elephant. At the distance they typically turn to you, 15-10yds, they may turn and run, or they may come for you. If your are slow you might find out how that particular elephant is going to react, come or go, but if you are sufficiently quick, you will never find out.

Of the activities you described, driving a sports car fast or racing is probably the closest. You are driving. So long as the car holds together, the tires don't blow, etc, etc, you are the one who determines if you crash and die or whether you just had a damn good time. That is thrilling, not scary or frightening. (Of course a good PH will try to correct your spin if you screw up the four wheel drift...)

Scuba is nothing to me, I am a fish and used to free dive beyond 50 feet to spear fish with "Hawian Slings" or pole spears when I was younger. A free ascent from 100ft is no big deal if you are comfortable in the water.

Sky Diving leaves you out of the picture. What happens is largely out of your control or influence. It may be scary, even frightening - it is to me! - but it is not thrilling to me since I am a spectator.

Hope this helps.

If the hunt is the true reason for hunting, then in my opinion hunting "plains game" is more the sport. I have hunted DG and have no desire to hunt the ones I have taken again. I find the hunt for spiaral horned game and the pygmy antelope more enjoyable. There may not be the danger with plains game but get careless with a wounded bushbuck and see how you can get hurt, in fact I would think it (bushbuck) is more dangerous just because it is "plains game" and not dangerous game so one might be a bit careless.

Shack:

All seven of Africa's "dangerous" animals have killed humans, but with cautious approach and accurate shooting...most hunting of the dangerous seven never results in a life threatening situation. You the hunting client, 99.9% of the time, can nullify the threat of danger with an accurately placed first shot.

The "possibility" of danger if you botch it, is the rush and the driving force to get it right each time, for me.

I don't ever want to be charged and find no glory in those who brag of charges. To me it usually means "you actually messed something up" in the beginning.

In your trophy room when relatives and non-hunting friends ask you about leopards, lions, eles, crocs, hippos, buffs and rhinos...they bestow upon you great adulation, when you tell them the story of how you brought the trophy home. (They will ask you as well if you've ever killed a tiger, or if you see alot of them in Africa.)

It's not the same feeling when you describe the gemsbok on the wall.

So in summary dangerous game isn't really always dangerous. You're more likely to lose your life walking across the street, driving your car or flying.

But there's just something about calling it "dangerous game" that conjures up a "close brush with death" feeling.

Hunting eland, to me, is more challenging than than hunting hippos, rhinos and lions...but because it is not considered a dangerous game species, the valor, honor and bravery associated with the kill, is not as great.

Many faces and mirrors – here is mine – part of it - just being close to the creature such as elephant or buffalo on their territory gives you a better perspective on who you are and further on - how you deal with yourself – one learns to pay respect and take care under that creepy feeling of infirmity - it gets deeper when you have something nasty on your mind, that to whom it may concern (and you are pulling it) may pay you back when dogged by ill luck – but let sleeping dogs lie – touch wood

This kind of attitude will get you branded a Mark Sullivan lover....LOL

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
There's something I've been wondering about for many years. And I ask this as one who's read and enjoyed the major works on African hunting (Bell, Taylor and Capstick) and as one who's spent a lifetime hunting non-dangerous game in the states.

I wouldn't mind going to Africa and hunting plains game, assuming I could find a place to display a trophy. And assuming I could personally eat some of the meat from the kill. And I can well understand wanting to take a leopard from a blind. In fact I once really wanted to hunt jaguars in Central America when that was possible to have one mounted and for the experience.

There's a "but" however. While I can see having one of the Big Boys as a trophy, what I have always had trouble wrapping my mind around is how to think of it as "fun" to get up close and personal or "in their face" before pulling the trigger. For the professionals I understand it. For Bell and those guys, they were ivory hunters. It was their calling. For the same reason I understand it being a PH's job. I'd probably do the same if I were already used to it and was getting paid.

But, tell me, am I right or wrong. For the hunting client is the whole point really just to face life threatening danger? Is it similar to the thrill in sky-diving, driving a race car, or maybe scuba? I've done scuba including wall dives down to 120 feet where you look up and can no longer see the surface and you have to exhale the entire way up, open ocean night dives and dives to explore the insides of sunken ships, underwater treasure hunting and inside caves at night looking for lobsters- if all that's any comparison. It's not something I'd do again because I know now what could have happened. But at the time I didn't think it was particularly dangerous. My view of danger then was different and I thought I could handle whatever came up.

Let me put it another way. I used to know this fellow who owned a well known local sporting goods store. Big time hunter of just about everything. He had a lot of African mounts, which I always found fascinating. I asked him one day about whether he faced a charge from any of these and what that was like. His answer I never forgot. He said "that's something you have to create".

So, with the Big Five is facing a charge or risking one what it's really all about?

Anyway, it's unlikely I'll ever make it over there now. Just too old. But, if I did I think I'll stand back aways to make the shot...

I think your question is often very hard to answer for many people.
For me it was since I was about five years old that I wanted to see Africa and hunt dangerous and non dangerous game.
After realizing later in life ( much later ) that this was possible for me I studied the
matter and realized that as someoine said earlier, if you make that first shot right, much of the danger is reduced. If however you
for some reason mess up, then it is on you if
someone gets hurt or worst and although it is the PH's responsibility, if you are an ethical and responsible person you will feel responsible and in my opinion should. That said, the hunt takes on a deeper meaning and
is to me at least more intense. Even if I am hunting non dangerous game in Africa or anywhere else I think it is important to hunt ethicly and make a clean kill. If that is done
and remains the focus of your hunt the rewards
are great and the memories are greater.

I don't really think about the danger...for me, the hunting I enjoy most is about ADVENTURE.

Danger is an element of adventure, no doubt.

But what attracts me to Africa, when I try to put in words, doesn't really have a whole lot of emphasis on danger.

Backpacking 10 days for sheep, scaling steep krags for goats, bugling for elk in grizzly country, rattling in mt lions...that's like daily life where I come from, and the element of danger/adrenaline rush that comes with it is really not all that different than hunting in Africa. And they're all ADVENTURE in their own way.

Travelling to a remote land, with a wide variety of unfamiliar terrain and wildlife, people from a different cultural background, that speak an entirely different language, tetse flies, malaria, sleeping sickness, scorpions in your tent, snakes under the next bush you step into, possibly getting run over by a buff, or ele, or ??...that all adds up to the grand adventure that Africa is to me.

As I said, and as is obvious in my paragraph above, danger is an element of it, but it isn't what distinguishes it from the adventures I have nearer to home.

Sable Trail I agree with what you say of others looking at the trophies. I have clients new and old ask about my trophies and "Which one are you the proudest of?" To which I answer my Blue Duiker and then explain about the pygmy antelope.The eyes and ears pop when they learn about Africian game they never knew existed. They very often ask about Tigers. The Eland also draws a lot of attention, but the european mt of the Cape Buffalo draws very little interest. Many people put down the taking of the Giraiff but it also draws a great deal of attention. JME

Shack,

The short answer I think is no. For most people I don't think they hunt the Big 5 because they want to be in a situation where they might get killed or severly injured. The elemnent of danger is a factor that we need to be aware of but in most cases the real danger will come only if we wound something that can bite.

Now there is a group of hunters that believe you need to get close enough so you can smell the elephant or buffalo's breath and you need to make the animal aware of your presence to be actually hunting. In this case your friend's comment "That's something you have to create" comes to mind. You can get seriously charged outside of this circunstance but your chances of a charge are incresed by a quantum leap when your that close.

For me and I think for most hunters getting close enough to make a clean kill is all that is necessary and plenty thrilling. Under those circumstances your chances of getting bitten, trampled or injured are not that great.

It means little but I've never been seriously charged. On the other hand Saeed has killed perhaps 200 buffalo and countless other DG. I don't think he's ever been charged either.

African hunting can be dangerous but one's style of hunting can dictates the degree of danger.

Mark

Adrenaline is a very short lived rush. For me hunting the big guys is not much different than the small stuff. The only difference is if you screw up there is a better chance of getting hurt. There is always the unexpected event that can ratchet things up though. There are certainly many smaller animals that are actually more of a challenge to hunt. Still, the big stuff that can fight back has its own appeal as well.

I've always preferred the word ADVENTURE to describe what I do and have tried to live an adventurous life. I think I have succeeded.

In the USMC while in RVN we talked about "holding your mud" and keeping a clear head when the dung hit the fan. I got out alive after 415 days. SCUBA below 100' at night, in wrecks and with sharks, rappelling from helicopters and down shear faces, white water rafting Class 5 rivers, jumping out of perfectly good aircraft, hunting the Dangerous Seven, undercover ops with dangerous individuals, tracking and arresting killers, negotiating with armed hostage takers, leading small groups of special operators, etc.

When you see a shark close-up under water, or face a charging animal or get shot at by the bad guys, everything else leaves your senses and a calm settles over your person, concentration on the threat becomes complete and their is no sense of danger or fear and flight is not a consideration. You simply do what you must to survive. You hold your mud. Now that is ADVENTURE!

BTW, I still don't like snakes.

I have taken a buffalo, and a hippo. Hippo wasn't hit well on the first shot and he charged. It led to some excitement, and can make for some chest-beating conversations.

Did I wish for it or want to have such an experience again? NO

Does it make for some interesting conversation? Sure it does.

I can say that in the brief time while being charged, I never felt more alive in my life. Do I want to go through that again? Not if I can help it.

Adventure always has an element of risk. I have never felt I was in real danger with "dangerous game," but cognizant of the risk nonetheless. A lot of people I know don't even get why I go to these places, let alone hunt dangerous game. They prefer to stay in a five star hotel when they go on vacation. No risk, no adventure.
We all take risks every day, whether driving in our cars or eating a fast food burger. Most of us indulged in a lot more risky behavior when we were young. I think we knowingly take risks because of a percieved risk benefit ratio. What do I get in return for taking a risk? Sometimes the reward is getting where you want to go. Sometimes the reward is adventure.

I do it to get out of the house and avoid chores.

I had to give your question quite a bit of thought as it isn't something I thought about before. I seldom hunt anything but elephant anymore. Due to cost, I have concentrated on PAC bulls and tuskless cows. I know that there is danger out there whenever I leave the Cruiser. But hell, the way some of my PHs drive, I'm probably in more danger in the Cruiser. The danger part comes in as a measure of how well I (we) are doing our jobs as hunters. If you screw up you will get to experience more danger than you need. But you can get into a whole pile of danger without screwing up. That is especially true when you hunt mixed herds of cows, calves and bulls. You can get away with doing a lot of things with a bull that you had better not do with a mixed herd. You can also run into a wounded DG animal at any time.

I look at myself as a student of elephant hunting. I have tried to learn all I can from the PH and trackers about tracking, approaching herds and reading elephant behavior. If you haven't done it, you will not realize how much there is to learn.

Yes, the danger is an intregal part of the experience, but surely not the driving force for me.

465H&H

Preceding posts are the most thoughtful and best spelled of any I have read on AR. I do not observe any posters who equate provoked charges or needless endangerment as a motive for hunting and probably the contrary. I hunt with my wife and regard her safety as the primary objective for our PH and me. But I would not deny her sharing the profound, rich experience of the African hunt, and she is a hunter.
Our objective is to hunt as efficiently as possible, including taking the game without elevated risk.

quote:

Originally posted by Shack:
There's something I've been wondering about for many years. And I ask this as one who's read and enjoyed the major works on African hunting (Bell, Taylor and Capstick) and as one who's spent a lifetime hunting non-dangerous game in the states.

I wouldn't mind going to Africa and hunting plains game, assuming I could find a place to display a trophy. And assuming I could personally eat some of the meat from the kill. And I can well understand wanting to take a leopard from a blind. In fact I once really wanted to hunt jaguars in Central America when that was possible, to have one mounted and for the experience.

There's a "but" however. While I can see having one of the Big Boys as a trophy, what I have always had trouble wrapping my mind around is how to think of it as "fun" to get up close and personal or "in their face" before pulling the trigger. For the professionals I understand it. For Bell and those guys, they were ivory hunters. It was their calling. For the same reason I understand it being a PH's job. I'd probably do the same if I were already used to it and was getting paid.

But, tell me, am I right or wrong. For the hunting client is the whole point really just to face life threatening danger? Is it similar to the thrill in sky-diving, driving a race car, or maybe scuba? I've done scuba including wall dives down to 120 feet where you look up and can no longer see the surface and you have to exhale the entire way up, open ocean night dives and dives to explore the insides of sunken ships, underwater treasure hunting and inside caves at night looking for lobsters- if all that's any comparison. It's not something I'd do again because I know now what could have happened. But at the time I didn't think it was particularly dangerous. My view of danger then was different and I thought I could handle whatever came up.

Let me put it another way. I used to know this fellow who owned a well known local sporting goods store. Big time hunter of just about everything. He had a lot of African mounts, which I always found fascinating. I asked him one day about whether he faced a charge from any of these and what that was like. His answer I never forgot. He said "that's something you have to create".

So, with the Big Five is facing a charge or risking one what it's really all about?

Anyway, it's unlikely I'll ever make it over there now. Just too old. But, if I did I think I'll stand back aways to make the shot...

Shack, I don’t think the danger is the whole thing but I admit it is a large part of the attraction that makes me hunt Africa, and Alaska. The first hunt I made out of my state was to hunt black bear, in New Mexico when I was only 13 yrs old and the second was in Canada again for black bear, the third was in Australia for Asian Buffalo, the fourth was Alaska again for brown bear. I hunted all the deer, and smaller things throughout this time as well, but it didn’t give me the satisfaction that the BITE-BACKS did. Then I went to Africa for Cape buffalo and the first animal I took in Africa was a Hippo on dry land, and third was a Cape buffalo bull. Though I took some very good plains game on that first safari, they didn’t impress me like the Buffalo, and the Hippo! So I guess I enjoy hunting Dangerous game more than anything else.

I think more than anything else, I see that man has progressed to a point where his weapons have given man an almost unfair advantage over most animals if he chooses to take advantage of distance. The way I see this is, when you get close to an animal who can, and will readily kill you if he gets the upper hand, has a way of evening up the odds some.

When you see a big bull charge out of the thorn close to you, or a big male lion in full charge, you know the rifle in your hands may not be enough to win the ensuing fight. When a big male lion is coming like a freight train your rifle doesn’t give you all that much advantage to assure the outcome, and when that happens you and that lion are very close to being on the same level in lethality.

Peter Capstick made a quote in one of his interviews that want like this, “ When a Cape Buffalo, puts together a concentrated charge, your options have become wonderfully simplified. You kill him, or he will kill you!” I’d say that has evened the odds just a little!

Now! Today, we can sit off 300 yards and shoot about any animal we want without even considering our own mortality. Hunters of Dangerous game today frown on the so-called “SNIPING” and deems it only correct to get in close and use things like iron sighted double rifles, bolt actions, and even single shots on animals that have been known to take a lot of shooting to stop, there-by evening the odds some in respect for the animals we hunt. The animal that scares hell out of me in a big African male Lion. The outcome is certainly not a guarantee you will be the one walking away because you have a rifle.


I too am old now, late 73 yrs old, with some health problems, and will likely never get back to Africa, but if I do, the old DUGGABOY bull will get my attention from as close as I can get!

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Of course facing danger is the attraction, or at least for me a key factor. That's why we distinguish dangerous game hunting - with all of its attendant risks - from all other kinds of hunting.

When the the hunter knows that his quarry can maul, trample, gore, claw, bite, stomp and kill him, the entire hunting experience is altered in a fundamental way.

If all goes as plannned, and the hunter performs well, there will be little or no danger and the game will be cleanly killed. That is as it should be and what all hunters of dangerous game strive to achieve.

But if the hunter is unskilled or negligent at his task, or is simply unlucky, then the danger can be fatal to him and to those who accompany him.

There are no stakes higher than that.

Well said. Life lived on the edge is the most rewarding life of all. If it weren't dangerous, I would not have done it. My deepest regret is that I didn't do it more when I was younger and had the means and the method. I was too wrapped up in skydiving at the time. DG hunting is not equal to that, but it occasionally comes close.

The intense concentration and very slight margin for error always holds my interest. I love the clarity that comes over me when I am risking my safety to accomplish a difficult task with precision.

Another great regret of mine is that I will never have the opportunity to hunt elephant. That can really push the envelope. That is where I like to be. Pushing the envelope.

The entire experience is an adventure. I have sought adventure all my life. It has been a very rewarding existence.

I just love hunting in general, and buffalo hunting in particular.

Danger never really enters my mind, as I have never felt I was in danger while hunting.

Sure, one feels the excitement of being in very thick bush with a buffalo or two only a few feet away.

Or being in the middle of an elephant herd where one cannot see more than 10 feet.

But feeling that I might die any moment?

Never on a hunt.

I feel more scared driving on our highways in one week than I have ever felt scared on all my hunts.

quote:

I do not observe any posters who equate provoked charges or needless endangerment as a motive for hunting and probably the contrary. I hunt with my wife and regard her safety as the primary objective for our PH and me. But I would not deny her sharing the profound, rich experience of the African hunt, and she is a hunter.
Our objective is to hunt as efficiently as possible, including taking the game without elevated risk.

I am anxiously looking forward to my first-ever African hunt in July. I think your description probably comes closest to the way I envision my experience will be. I echo the sentiments of many that for me it is about the *adventure* and not the *danger*.

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
The intense concentration and very slight margin for error always holds my interest. I love the clarity that comes over me when I am risking my safety to accomplish a difficult task with precision.

jetdrvr, I believe that you have captured a key piece of it right there.

I agree with armorer.

Sport hunting and fishing have always been thrilling to me. If the sport is slightly dangerous it increases the thrill.

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:
The intense concentration and very slight margin for error always holds my interest. I love the clarity that comes over me when I am risking my safety to accomplish a difficult task with precision.

jetdrvr, I believe that you have captured a key piece of it right there.

X2

Muletrain,

that definitely ain't Flipper!

Rich

quote:

Originally posted by jetdrvr:

quote:

Originally posted by mrlexma:
Of course facing danger is the attraction, or at least for me a key factor. That's why we distinguish dangerous game hunting - with all of its attendant risks - from all other kinds of hunting.

When the the hunter knows that his quarry can maul, trample, gore, claw, bite, stomp and kill him, the entire hunting experience is altered in a fundamental way.

If all goes as plannned, and the hunter performs well, there will be little or no danger and the game will be cleanly killed. That is as it should be and what all hunters of dangerous game strive to achieve.

But if the hunter is unskilled or negligent at his task, or is simply unlucky, then the danger can be fatal to him and to those who accompany him.

There are no stakes higher than that.

Well said. Life lived on the edge is the most rewarding life of all. If it weren't dangerous, I would not have done it. My deepest regret is that I didn't do it more when I was younger and had the means and the method. I was too wrapped up in skydiving at the time. DG hunting is not equal to that, but it occasionally comes close.

The intense concentration and very slight margin for error always holds my interest. I love the clarity that comes over me when I am risking my safety to accomplish a difficult task with precision.

Another great regret of mine is that I will never have the opportunity to hunt elephant. That can really push the envelope. That is where I like to be. Pushing the envelope.

The entire experience is an adventure. I have sought adventure all my life. It has been a very rewarding existence.

I agree with Jetdrvr... I am never more focused than when on the edge - a career in Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) taught me that!. When the pressure is on and your life is on the line is when you have total focus - you are in the zone. While you are naturally scared to death, you feel no fear - training and ability kicks in. You use skills you don't even realize you still remember...

It is interesting - I have shot Trap competitively for several years and have done OK. To truly be competitive and win you must be able to totally focus and get "in the zone" when you are on the trap line. I have never been able to accomplish that level of concentration trapshooting. The only time I find that level of focus now is when I am hunting - especially when hunting DG.

They say you feel the most alive when you are the closest to dying. During the Gulf War we called in an airstrike 200yds in front our position - I had so much adrenalin flowing in me I didn't sleep for 3 days!!!

But in all honesty, I hunt Africa for the adventure and the memories...

Schack

Facing danger is not it. It is the adventure and experience of wilderness and places unknown. It is the camaraderie of fellow hunters around a camp fire. It is the temporary abandon of what guys do every day making a living. It is the freedom of being out of touch with anything and everything we have been made to believe is the important things in “civilized” life – and not giving a damn. It is the smell of gun oil and the even present smoke and dust of Africa. It is the increase in heartbeat during a stalk. It is the disappointment of not being successful and the exhilaration of getting the prize. It is the expectations and the planning for the safari. And it is about the many, many good memories.

Danger is relative and so is getting hurt. You can get pretty well messed up in no time by a Red duiker that lets rip when you get too close too quickly thinking that the shot was good.

Once you've been, you'll understand ...

quote:

Originally posted by Bahati

Facing danger is not it. It is the adventure and experience of wilderness and places unknown. It is the camaraderie of fellow hunters around a camp fire. It is the temporary abandon of what guys do every day making a living. It is the freedom of being out of touch with anything and everything we have been made to believe is the important things in “civilized” life – and not giving a damn. It is the smell of gun oil and the even present smoke and dust of Africa. It is the increase in heartbeat during a stalk. It is the disappointment of not being successful and the exhilaration of getting the prize. It is the expectations and the planning for the safari. And it is about the many, many good memories.

Danger is relative and so is getting hurt. You can get pretty well messed up in no time by a Red duiker that lets rip when you get too close too quickly thinking that the shot was good.

Once you've been, you'll understand ...

Johan
Bahati Adventures
www.bahati.co.za

Well put. I could not have said it any better.

You can get badly hurt doing almost nothing. I got hammered riding the truck into town from camp. Two herniated discs and a synovial cyst and months of severe pain. Just riding on a truck. My motto used to be, "If you ain't livin' on the edge, you're takin' up too much space." Now that I am retired, I'm bored stiff. No more African hunts, no more slydives, no more difficult approaches into the olifield strip in thr Central Highlands in Papua New Guinea. Being in the zone is the place I want to be, and when it's over, nothing replaces it. Hopefully, things will change and I will get a chance to return. I love getting close so you can smell him, using a light rifle and irons. You have to do it right.

But it seems those days are gone forever.
Like some guy's signature line says, Go. You can borrow money, but you can't borrow time. Get close. Don't snipe them from 80 yards. Get so close you can taste the adrenaline on the back of your tongue. Live a little. Nothing like it.

I'm not an adrenaline junkie. Nothing I do is dangerous. I come prepared for the dance. What I enjoy about hunting, is the not knowing what comes next. That's the game that goes on in my head. When we spot buffalo and start moving in I'm as keyed-up as any other predator. I'm closing for the kill. Something changes, I react to it. My move; his move; my move; his move. If he wins, he lives. If I win, he dies. At no point am I offering my life.

Sometimes it's just the marvel of the unexpected. We had split a herd of about 250 buffalo, and had turned back sixteen, including the bull we were after. We had closed to within about 75 yards of the target when we heard a commotion behind us. We turned around and a herd of over 40 sable blew by us at about 50 yards. What a treat. That was an African moment I won't forget. It just left me shaking my head. What a lucky guy I am.

Once they cleared, we got back to business, and closed again on the buffalo. I followed the PH's queues and in short order had a bull on the ground. No drama. No wet-your-pants-danger. Just good old-fashion hunting. I love it.

I don't think of hunting in Africa as dangerous at all. Why do we always discuss this?

Every year, on average, 15 people are killed skiing in the state of Colorado alone (read that in the paper over the holidays). Skiers don't talk about the dangers of skiing.

I can tell when I am most afraid when in the outdoors...days in AZ when the rattlesnakes seem be all over the place. I am intimately aware of them. If I ever saw a black mamba, maybe I would be more afraid in Africa. But I am not.

I have parachuted in the Army. The first time you step out of the plane is a total thrill. You absolutely know if the chute doesn't open and you don't open the reserve, you are dead. Can't say I have ever had that feeling when hunting, except a few times in AK. Once when I got stuck on a cliff on a DIY hunt, and once when I thought hunting south of King Salmon in late Novemeber would be fun, and got caught in some horrible weather.

I think sky diving is many more times more dangerous. So is mountain climbing.

I hunt Africa for the same reasons I hunt rabbits in AZ: I like to hunt. I like adventure.

quote:

Originally posted by AnotherAZWriter:
If I ever saw a black mamba, maybe I would be more afraid in Africa.

If you are fortunate enough to ever get a close-up sighting ... there is no way in hell you will ever forget it! And that is the thing.

quote:

If you are fortunate enough to ever get a close-up sighting ... there is no way in hell you will ever forget it! And that is the thing.

No $hit...just this last June in SA....estimated at about 12-13'...right across the trail in front of me and my son. I hate snakes...especially those buggers. And, if that wasn't good enough, less than an hour later, a Mozambique Spitting Cobra fires away at us as we are headed back to the Cruiser. Did I mention I hate snakes?

Now, to answer the original question that started this thread......YES.

Gary
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