Has it ever happened to you..

[SStomcat]

That you encountered an elephant or lion in close proximity while hunting PG?

 

[BRICKBURN]

I most certainly have encountered Elephants in close proximity multiple times. No Lions.
With my .270 win in my hands. (The only firearm present)
I laughed and chirped to the PH: "I'm going to go down swinging."
Thankfully, hiding in the tall grass/reeds or standing motionless was good enough.

 

[K-man]

Yes. This is 8 yards away on my first safari. Carrying a .30-06. Quite the pucker factor. Your experiences may vary depending on where you are hunting. On a S.A game farm, not so much. Wide open country in Zim or moz or Namibia, possibly.

 

[Cleathorn]

Yep. I would not say it was dangerous, but it happens.

You can bump into a lot of things while hunting in Zim; including that time I nearly fell onto a hippo while sliding down a muddy bank looking at crocs - but that's not PG hunting either.

I also nearly urinated on a lion while hunting PG on a large property in RSA that had a pride of "wild managed lions." I saw the other lions in the pride, so while my wife took some photos, I opted to relive myself while still standing on the back of the cruiser. I did not see the male lying crawling through the grass on my side until it was very, very close. That could have been unfortunate, and it would not have made a very compelling story. Funny, but not compelling.

I've seen elephants mock charge the cruiser a number of times in Zim, walked into a pack of hyena sleeping in thicket in Cameroon (and was lucky enough to harvest one of those), and had an elephant casually walk by us while hunting PG on a farm just outside of Kruger. We found the broken fence very soon after. Also PG hunting.

They don't really bother you, and I never felt in danger, its just Africa being Africa.

 

[K-man]

I've also had a mom and young grizzly claim my moose in B.C. That was more intense than an elephant bluff charge.

 

[Sideshow]

Does 10 yards in Flat dogs camp site on the edge of Luangwa Nat park with beer bottle in hand count? Sorry no gun

 

[WAB]

Read our hunt report from 2017 in the Save. Truly a miracle that the elephant was the only one to die.

 

[mdwest]

No elephants or lions… but have bumper buffalo more times than I can count with nothing more than a 308 on hand…

No grizz.. but have had momma black bear and a couple of cubs stroll out on us in the smoky mountains .. with nothing to fight her off with other than the smile on my face… thankfully she wasn’t horribly disturbed by us and just pushed her cubs to move along a little faster while we backtracked a couple of feet…

 

[gillettehunter]

I was on a property in Northern SA that’s 240,000 acres. We spotted a bull elephant perhaps 1/2 mile away. Distinctive bull that had killed a worker on that farm 30 days earlier. When he saw us he stopped feeding and came on a straight line for us. At 100 yds the trackers wanted out of there. At 50 yds they were panicking. The PH finally started up the truck and left. The bull probably got to within 15 yds. of us. Close enough.
Bruce

 

[Longfeather1]

Had an elephant 10 yards outside the leopard blind I was in while it was dark. I can tell you at that time the 375 I had in my hand didn't feel big enough at all.

Also on the same trip, had a lioness determined she was going to come into the blind we were hunting hyena from. PH had to put a round in the ground in front of her to get her to change her mind.

Both happened in Zim

 

[BryceM]

Lion, across a non-lion-proof fence, maybe 30 yards away while hunting PG in the Kalahari earlier this year. It's majestic, a bit unnerving, but ultimately a privilege to see wild predators up close.

 

[DLSJR]

I’ve encountered elephants, lions, buffaloes and rhinos up close, all while looking for other animals. Many years ago, 1983, on a 24 day hunt on the Deka Safari Area of Zimbabwe, we ran into a fabulous lion at 20 yards while just riding around on our first day. The only animal I didn’t have on license was a lion, or it would have been my very first African animal ever.

On that same hunt, we were going to hang a leopard bait near camp, as a leopard walked right around our fire pit several times after we’d retired to our tents for the night. We were less than 100 yards from camp, walking along the bank of the Mbala River, looking at potential bait trees and nobody had a gun at hand. As we rounded a large bush, Roy Vincent going around one side and me the other, we bumped right into a sleeping buffalo bull at a distance of mere feet. Everyone scattered in different directions, fortunately including the buffalo that jumped up and ran off in his own direction. Scared the hell out of us!

On a 1986 hunt on Zimbabwe’s Charara Safari Area, we were quietly sneaking along a small stream, looking for a bushbuck. We suddenly saw a large gray patch in dense vegetation just across the stream - close. It took a step and we realized it was a Black Rhino cow. As it continued forward, her large calf came into view. And finally a large bull with a fresh horn wound on his left flank. They had no clue we were there and walked past us at about 15 yards, with only the stream separating us. Who gets to observe Black Rhinos in totally wild, free range conditions these days? Charara was full of Black Rhinos back then. I think we saw 5 on a 15-day hunt.

A few years ago, on a Sitatunga hunt on Lunga Luswishi Safari area in Zambia, we were walking back to the truck at dusk, knowing there were some lions about as we’d seen a couple along the Kafue River just an hour earlier and they’d gone in the direction we were now walking about 15-20 minutes after sunset. A few hundred yards from the truck we suddenly heard a loud grunt very close. We stopped and five lions stood up from the long grass, less than 40 yards from us. We stood still, watching them while they growled a bit but never moved toward us. Finally, one by one, they melted back into the forest. We walked the remaining distance to the truck keeping an eye on our back trail but never saw them again.

Been chased by elephants a few times while hunting on foot.

 

[Doug3006]

Yes, in Zambia. We were hunting buffalo and plains game. We bumped into elephants every day. Lions only once. Not really a close thing. An elephant herd gave me an @Jeff505 a noisy send off once. The baby elephants seemed more worked up than the mommas did. Just getting some practice I think. The elephants in Zimbabwe seemed much more relaxed. We saw them every day, but no hair raising stories.

 

[Ridge Runner]

No elephants or lions… but have bumper buffalo more times than I can count with nothing more than a 308 on hand…

No grizz.. but have had momma black bear and a couple of cubs stroll out on us in the smoky mountains .. with nothing to fight her off with other than the smile on my face… thankfully she wasn’t horribly disturbed by us and just pushed her cubs to move along a little faster while we backtracked a couple of feet…

Watched to many Daniel Boone shows growing up? Or read too many novels on Daniel Boone? You just couldn't resist playing Daniel Boone, trying to smile down a bar?

 

[Fatback]

Have had to re- route stalks in the Caprivi and Zim due to elephants. Most recently we were trying to sneak in in a very nice kudu when a herd of about 25-30 elephants passed by at 15 yards, right to left. The 30-06 I was carrying seemed awfully small at the time. we had the wind in our favor and they never knew we were there. Worst part, they buggered the kudu off. It was exciting for sure. Another time in the Caprivi had this youngster get close, trumpet and kick dirt our way from about 10 yards. He finally settled down and we eased back to the bakkie and left.

 

[Kharn]

I think my biggest fear would be poachers... Either they shoot in paranoia & panic or worse, flat out execute me with an AK/Machete.

Some of the stories I read about Game Rangers is just quite "something". I read about two rangers that were executed, lacerated, hands tied behind their backs and then thrown into the river & not found for sometime after...

Apparently those involved were all caught in the end.

 

[Rem280]

That very friendly looking Cape Buff was not happy with our presence. That was a little tense considering we only had a pistol and my 280 Rem.

 

[K-man]

We stopped our walk in Zim to observe a flock of quillia birds in a tree and heard a loud huff and looked 5 yards away to see a large male lion stand up and look at us. He was obviously sleeping and we disturbed his nap. We gave him his nap time back.

 

[Red Leg]

Yes. Lots of elephants in the Caprivi and Mozambique and lions in Mozambique.

Taken afoot in the forests of Mozambique as we followed a game trail looking for a waterbuck. We beat a hasty retreat.

 

[bakerb]

Bowhunting a property in the NW province of South Africa. Had several run ins with buffalo while either unarmed or carrying a bow. Once we were walking back to truck after trying to find a shot nyala and I heard a noise and clicked my flashlight on, and the buffalo were very close. This picture was taken right after I got out of a blind after shooting a gemsbok. This didn’t bother me. What did bother me was tracking that gemsbok in the dark and there were buffalo around us. Little nerve wracking.