Just got back from a 10 day hunt in Namibia with
Classic Safaris with PH Vaughan Fulton vfulton@africaonline.com.na and it was the best hunt i have ever been on. Vaughn is a great host and PH and goes the extra mile to make sure you are enjoying yourself. The hunt was from Sept 11-20, and I got a mountain zebra, a gemsbok, a 38 inch eland bull and a lion which I will get to in a minute. Vaughan has a ten camp about 6 hours from Windhoek on a very large conservancy which is teaming with game. His camp staff was superb as was the food and he is a down to earth person I really got to know as a good friend.
I realize that nothing is a guarantee on a hunt, but this one turned out perfect and I will be glad to supply particulars to anyone interested in hunting with Vaughan.
I took a Mod 70 Safari Express in 375 H&H with a Zeiss 1.25x4 scope and factory Win 270gr Failsafe ammo and the rifle performed superbly with the exception of the ammo..My first shot was at a mountain zebra from about 125 yards and a shot through the shoulder was followed up by 2 more shots which brought it down. We recovered one bullet and the pedals were missing and the shank was bent which we both thought was strange. A gemsbok which was shot in the afternoon from about 130 yards in the shoulder ran about 60 yards before becoming stuck in an erosion cut and it took 2 more rounds through the vital areas before it died.
Now comes the excitement, we got a deal offered for a lion on a game ranch being plagued by them and I decided to take one, so we sat on a dead donkey we used as bait from about 70 yards in a tree blind about 530pm and two lions showed up and after determining which one to shoot I hit the lion broadside in shoulder and before I could get off another shot it stumbled from shot and took off with the second male into the brush.After a half hour wait, we started tracking and found blood but as it was getting late we decided to return in the morning to take up the track. With two trackers, Vaughan and myself we started off on the track as observed the two lions had split up, so we started on one track and after about an hour and half of walking we decided this was not the wounded lion so we returned to where the animals had split up and took off on the second track which terminated in about a half mile with us locating the lion lying broadside under a tree with his head against the base. He was not looking our way and after it was decided this was the lion, i took aim just behind shoulder from about 89-90 feet away and as I fired the lion jumped up and with a roar he started a charge at us. I fired straight on at him and scored a hit but it did not slow him and Vaughan fired his 458 from about 30 feet which slowed him down momentarily, but did not stop the charge and as Vaughan was reloading he tripped on a bush and fell with the bolt open and the lion was almost on top of him I fired from about 2 feet away through his side behind the shoulder which turned him off Vaughan and he came at me and I had run out of ammo in the gun and backing up for more room, I tripped and fell on my back with the lion almost on top of me. I had the rifle in both hands and as the lion came at me, I hit him as hard as i could with the rifle which broke his tooth as it skidded up the forend and my finger got in the way I got cut by the canine. This startled him for a second as he backed off and his left paw snapped my lower sling swivel and as he appeared to be coming back for seconds, Vaughan had got to his feet and fired broadside at the lion which fell over about 2 feet from me. The entire incident probably lasted no more than 5 seconds but the adreniline high lasted a bit longer. After our hearts had slowed to a reasonable rate we congradulated each other for saving one anothers skins. It took six stitches to sew up the bite and although this could have gone very bad, it didn't and Vaughn and I now share something that very few people have experienced, he is definitely a person that passed the test of fire....As for the Failsafe ammo, we never recovered the bullets from the lion so I can't comment on what they looked like, but I can tell you I will never use them again.
And I'm already planning the next hunt with
Vaughan for leopard if I can talk my wife into it.

Fantastic Hunt!!!!

You have had an experience of several lifetimes and survived!

You need to post some pictures now.

Mike

That is one of the most amazing stories I've ever heard! Thank you for sharing, and I'm glad things worked out ok.

WOW!

Wonderful story and congratulations on hanging in there. It sounds as if you only fired three times. Is that right? Doesn't your rifle hold four down and one in the chamber?

The stuff that dreams are made of ... and nightmares! Mutual bacon preservation there! One good turn deserves another, eh?

Pictures, please! And thanks for the African fix.

Cheers!

Holy crap! That's a great tale of adventure. All these recent stories have me really, and I mean really, fired up for my hunt with Vaughan next June. Wow, what a hunt!

SRT:

Outstanding hunt and writeup. Boy, if you only had that charge on film. It would of sold well enough to finance that next trip. I am sure those moments will last in your memory forever.

What part of Namibia did you hunt?

Post those pics when time permits.

Thanks for sharing!
rslus

Great story, my stomach was tightening up just reading it. Can only imagine how your heart must have been racing when the lion was finally on the ground for good.

As others have said, we need to see some pictures now. Congrats to coming out on top!

Congratulations - very nicely done!

Bill

What an adventure. That was a great hunt and great story. I was led to believe that these "problem lion/leopard/elephant" opportunities in Namibia were just a come one. I guess not. It would be interesting to hear from Vaughn or someone else how often they become available, their cost, and how they are distributed between the safari companies.

Sammy,

WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Great hunt.
I wish I could have stayed and joined you guys Man, you got to post some photos. Did Vaughan say if that was one of the Lions we had seen while I was there?

Africa '05!!!!

STB,

I'm not sure about all your questions, but my wife and I also hunted with Vaughan, the week before str. We saw three lions and I also one, I'm guessing its on the same farm. You can see photos of my lion in the link below.

Africa '05!!!!!

Holy shi@! What an experience! Since everything turned out OK, what a blast! How many times was the lion actually hit? After that hunt I wouldn't ever use Failsafes either!

What did the necropsy show? Where did the bullets hit?

George

Oh well, so much for comparing scars in camp. You win hands down!

Great story, great performance by all. Any pix?

I originally had 3 in mag with nothing in chamber for safety reasons while walking behind Vaughan for safety reasons while hunting the plains game and while one was in the chamber and two in the magazine during the charge one more round may not have done any good or changed the outcome as he was so close and i tripped and then got to use the gun like a riot baton which i assumed startled him enough until vaughan got off his shot......oh well if my aunt had an adams apple she'd be my uncle....
on 270 gr failsafe factory ammo, i wish i could be more definitive on it's performance in the lion but we didn't recover and of the bullets. he was hit four times in vital areas by me and twice by vaughan's 458...we found one of his winchestered factory 510 softpoints perfectly mushroomed in the body....the only thing i have to go on in what i consider the failed bullet with the petals torn off i recovered from the zebra and the several perfect shots it took to bring down the gemsbok of which no bullets were found on the carcass. on the eland, we found a perfectly expanded failsafe under the hide on the opposite shoulder......in the aftermath Vaughan and i thought that maybe with the thin skin of the lion that the failsafe may have acted like a solid or the petals came off as it went through, we just don't know...however i won't use them again

SBT,

quote:

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I have said so many times before, that Namibia is often underated in what it has to offer in the dangerous game department. North of the Vetinary fence for the most part is wild and open and in the north west has a low human population.
More to the point of your question. Problem animals in these areas are declared by our game department (Ministry of Environment and Tourism) and when these animals are declared they are usually offered to the Outfit that has the hunting rights to that area or is the closest to the area where problems are being experienced. These companies usually have a licensed big game hunter(dangerous game) registered and/or employed. This is a pre-requisit for obtaining the hunting rights to dangerous game hunting areas. Should that company not have interested hunters then they make it available to other outfits, again as long as the "ph" is licensed.
In the case of animals causing problems on private land the land owner has the right to declare the animal. This is not the case with Elephant, the game department will investigate and if they are not able to find a solution they may then declare the animal a problem. Many Lions are shot in Namibia each year by ranchers and traditional farmers (living in the communal lands). Leopards are all over . I highlight this as I have discussed this in another post. This is a very rough outline.

Costs.

I cannot speak for all the outfits, though on average most outfits charge the trophy fee and the daily rate stays the same as what the hunter and outfit agreed upon initialy. In other words no extra charge, that is how I do it. The trophy fee is usually less than that of a standard trophy hunt unless the animal is of an above average trophy quality.

I hope that I have helped.

srt & Vaughan,

Thanks for posting, sounds like things got "pretty sporty" there for a while!

SRT -- I imagine your rifle is carrying a pretty memorable scratch now -- and bet you never repair it!

I just read this for the first time and have to say "WOW!"

if that happened to me, my wife would NEVER find out!!!!! and yeah, maybe try some different ammo next time! (I hope to take that same rifle to africa sometime soon... only with a 2-7x33 VX-II).

I'd love to see the scars on the rifle as well... wow!

it was a great hunt, all i have to do is talk my wife into letting me return for a leopard but with trophy bonded bullets this time....i'd post pictures but i don't know how

srt,

Here's how to post pics Posting Pics

If you don't want to post your own pics, email me a few pics (be sure and ATTACH them to the email) and I will post them for you.

Regards,

Terry

srt,

Wonderful 9 due to the good result ) story. Thanks for sharing.

I would strongly recommend that you seriously consider giving North Fork bullets a try if you are a reloder. They open up at all reasonable velocities, speed does not make them worse, they retain weight, and are extremely accurate.

I use them in my .416 Rigby and .375 H&H. They have performed perfectly on BUFF, Zebra and Wart Hog.'

I am not affiliated with the company. Ray turned me on to them a while back and you will find Mike Brady an outstanding individual to work with. (307) 436-2726

All the best,

Sam