Lioness Hunt 2017

KMG Canada

KMG Canada

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Alfred, Ontario
Just before I get started posting about our hunt (including lioness) in South Africa this year …. the lions we hunted are free ranging and self sustaining on land set aside and funded completely through hunters dollars. The game preserve does have to be fenced under South African law (can’t have lions roaming around doing damage to the locals and the livestock) and must be a minimum of 10,000 acres to qualify … this preserve was 30,000 acres ….
This was my fifth hunt in South Africa and as usual I had a fantastic time, I am already scheduled to return next year! After this many times hunting together it is like going out hunting with family. This includes all the good natured jabs between hunting buddies (more on that later).
As we were starting out hunting lioness, we flew into Johannesburg and rented a vehicle and headed down to Bloemfontein for a couple of days before we would meet up with Marius and Kim of KMG Hunting Safaris who would drive up to meet us in Kimberly. Now I know that Bloemfontein isn’t the normal tourist destination but being a bit of a history buff and still in the Army I checked out a monument to the Canadians, the Anglo-Boer War museum and a few other historical places. I must say that I wasn’t too happy at the state of the monument and have since seen other problems online with other Canadian sites. Time to talk to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

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We also went to the local cheetah experience and normally these types of places are filled with anti-hunting sentiment and yet I was pleasantly surprised that our young guide both understood and supported both sides of the conservation argument. In addition, she was very knowledgeable and passed on some excellent information about the animals in her charge.

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We next met up with Kim and Marius and took the time to visit the Diamond mining in Kimberly and the “Big Hole”, reminded me a lot of our own Yukon and Alaskan gold rushes. My better half also found a 1957 hardcover edition of J.A. Hunter’s “Hunter’s Tracks” inside a box of used books in a little store just outside the tourist attraction.

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Next on the agenda was sighting in the rifle and a quick tour around the area. I had borrowed Marius’ CZ 550 .375 H&H for the hunt (I have the exact same rifle at home … wonder how that happened).

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We saw quite a few different critters including Rhino and an Aardwolf that knew I was away from the bakkie and just had to let my wife know he was there! We also spotted a corker of a warthog and resolved to come back tomorrow to see if we could find him.

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The next day began with a steep climb where we hoped to spot the warthog we had seen the day before. Sure enough, Marius picked him up and we were on our way down the hill to commence the stalk.

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Now having spent most of my life in the Army I have seen some serious obstacles to movement and some wicked barbed wire, but nothing compares to blackthorns, they go in and hook you so that you can’t pull them out (and I thought the East Cape was bad). We continued on after clearing the obstacle and got downwind of the Warthog. We stalked in closely and up went the sticks. We waited for him to turn broadside and I pulled the trigger and the shot rang out. I look up and see a very large Warthog looking confused and unharmed and let fly again. The Warthog trots off seemingly none the worse for wear, although Marius isn’t quite convinced and we do conduct a search but to no avail. A trip to the range confirms I was shooting high and we readjust the scope. Marius cuts me some slack on this shot and only mildly comments on my shooting ability to start out this trip. I’ll give him more reasons to doubt my marksmanship later :).

The next morning we are up early and head out in pursuit of a lioness.

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We start out by trying to cut some fresh spoor with the bakkie, but to no avail. We next head up into some hills that lead to a sheltered valley hoping to spot lions below, but are instead treated to mountain reedbuck and rhino tracks as we continue our search from on high.

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Thwarted in our efforts to spot a lioness we head back down and resume the search with the bakkie looking for fresh spoor. We spot the tracks and our tracker quickly indicates three lionesses that are lying up after likely having fed on a giraffe kill they had found earlier. We come up to them quickly and realize that there are indeed three lionesses in this group and we expect that they will run as we approach. Nothing doing, these three stand their ground immediately. The sticks go up and I hear a comment between the PHs that this is as close as we get, that lioness will be here in a second and a half if she wants to charge.

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As if the adrenalin wasn’t at full throttle already it was certainly flowing now at that comment. The lioness now moves to the left towards her two companions and when she stops I fire. The shot hits high and she goes down, but not out. Almost immediately, the other two lions attack her, it takes the sound of our approaching bakkie (summoned after the shot) to drive the other two lions away and I follow up with another shot. My emotions are all over the place as we approach, upset at my shooting, non-believing that I had taken a lioness, amazed at the reaction of the other lionesses to name but a few.

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As I approached, it started to hit home that I had taken my lioness and I was glad of the necessity to quickly load her as the rest of the lionesses had not moved off too far, as unashamedly my emotions were overflowing and I could now focus on the task at hand.

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The other lionesses attacked her as she was the lead female in the pride and they sensed weakness. The only other time i have seen anything like that is here at home when upon shooting a Tom turkey the jakes will give the Tom a good going over.
 
That picture of the Lioness standing up and looking towards the camera stood up the hair on my arms...looks like she's about to charge!
 
Living out my hunting fantasies through the experiences of other hunters... To complete my fantasy, would you mind if I call the lioness "Cecilia"? ;) Hunting dangerous game must be the most exciting of exciting hunts: Hopefully I can plan and enjoy a safari like this someday.
 
Thanks gents. Must say that if someone had told me years ago I would get to hunt lioness and Cape Buffalo (last year) I would have said no way, but Africa can really get in your blood once you start hunting there!
 
I thought i would update this thread with a couple of pics on the taxidermy process. The first pic is of the form and the next three are of the progress so far without the base and finishing yet to be done. Must say that i am pretty happy with how its turning out so far!

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Loyer, There is a huge misconception on the role of hunting predators in South Africa. Most of the land is in private hands and therefore if the wildlife isn't given a value through hunting then it is cleared off/eradicated to make room for agriculture pursuits. The lions we hunted are free ranging and self sustaining on land set aside and funded completely through hunters dollars. The game preserve has to be fenced under South African law (can’t have lions roaming around doing damage to the locals and the livestock) and must be a minimum of 10,000 acres to qualify … this preserve was 30,000 acres ….The hunting of lions in the area I hunted is to effect population control of predators and for economical reasons in keeping the reserve a reserve and not having the land become more viable for farming or cattle as i mentioned above. We have to manage the lions within the preserve, just as we manage plains game as well. Without trophy hunting and the money it derives there would be not many places left for the lions and their numbers would diminish quite quickly. Conservation through hunting and the old adage of "if it pays it stays" is the future of wildlife preservation in any area under threat from human encroachment. Luckily we still have plenty of space in Canada for our apex predators, not so in RSA.
 
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