Professional Hunter mauled by Lion

[PaulT]

"On another note I just bought a .500MDM from Michael", quote by Hartzview Hunting Safaris.

Holey stinking cat-shit Batman, you MUST be on the big bucks !

Congrats and well done, welcome to the .50 club and the MDM family.
You're going to LOVE that .50
Should cut down the tracking jobs somewhat !!!

Without de-railing this thread i'll send you a p.m soon with some notes on the .500MDM

 

[lcq]

Good evening everybody,

I firstly would like to thank each and every one of you guys that had Reinhard in your prayers and that thought and supported us through this very unfortunate event. I am so grateful to have been able to help Reinhard in such a situation and I know if it was me on the ground with the lion on top of me, Reinhard would have done exactly the same for me. The dear Lord saved a life that day and he kept us all in His hands.

The story has been told on the thread and I certainly do not want to stretch it out any further but I would like to make a quick point. I have hunted many lion in my life and professional hunting career. It is my way of making a living and I am really passionate about hunting lion the ethical and correct way. That being said I want to come to the point here quickly for some of the guys that had doubt on what happened and why the lion got through to us that quickly.

From my experience with lion over the last 10 years hunting on a average 30 to 40 cats a year I have never seen a lion do what this one did! This cat never even gave me the slightest hint that he would charge us.... Usually a lion that is agitated or getting ready to fight will show some signs. Some of them show their teeth first and then growl with their tails twitching. Some will run away while growling a couple of times before charging or even attempt to charge. When lion do this you as the PH in the lead automatically know to be more careful in not coming on to the lion's too aggressively or fast and also not to enter their comfort zone or push him any harder at all.

Well let me tell you this lion did absolutely NOTHING of any sort. We bumped him where he was sleeping while tracking buffalo, he stood up looked at us for a while and then turned and walked away slowly. We were all ready and armed and I instructed everybody to be ready as I knew these lion in the area where more aggressive than the usual lion we hunt (no one knows why?) as they tended to charge trucks etc. I wanted the lion to move off before we started moving as we will then have the advantage. The cat then turned walked in behind a bush and I then just saw his tail flick a millimetre. I saw him turn through the brush and immediately shouted to everyone that he is coming!

He did not present any of us especially Reinhard and the client a clear shot as he was coming from behind some brush and trees. I only shot the lion when he was about 5 yards from me as I was a little more to the right and in front of the party as I was with the trackers when we bumped the lion. As I hit the lion square in the chest, because of my angle there was no way I could have hit the lion in the head. I knew I needed to turn the cat away from us or break the neck. My shot was a little lower than expected and the lion just stumbled a bit but carried on, my shot broke the right front leg that is why he stumbled a bit. I guess everybody else shot but unfortunately we could not get the lion down before he got on top of Reinhard. The little tree behind Reinhard saved his life in my opinion, if that tree was not there that lion would have had him on the ground and immediately broke his neck.

Well when they went to ground the lion were looking straight at me... Felt like he looked right through me with those yellow eyes and small black pupils. I knew I had to get the lion of my friend as soon as I can otherwise he will be killed. I then ran towards the lion shouting at it, he left Reinhard and wanted to charge me as that is what I wanted him to do... As soon as he left Reinhard and his head was high enough of Reinhard for me to shoot safely I shot and my bullet hit the mark and he went down.

I immediately moved my attention to Reinhard and called my hunting truck in to where we were to start firs aid on Reinhard as I needed to stop the bleeding. I take my hat off to Reinhard as he took the pain like a beast and kept calm throughout the whole ordeal with all the shock and pain. I am glad I could help my fellow hunter and very close friend so he could that today he can go back to his family to provide for them.

My point here is that with any dangerous game safari, does not matter how much experience you as a guide or hunter have, the unexpected can happen at any given moment so as a PH and client always be prepared and have your rifle with you at all times when hunting in a area with any dangerous game.

I truly hope that this unfortunate event opens up a couple of eyes in the hunting industry... A lot of people including outfitters and PH's take our South African lion hunts lightly and more of a joke. These lion are dangerous and will kill you, they are not pets out of a petting zoo! Handle and hunt every single lion with respect, if you don't you will pay for it one day maybe sooner than you think.....

I once again thank each and every person that sent a prayer up for our very dear friend! I am very happy to report that he is doing well as I just spoke with him a little while ago. He will be heading in to the theatre again tomorrow and hopefully will be going home later this week.

We all truly appreciate you guys a lot! Thank you again our AH community and friends!

Best regards,

Jacques

You and Reinhard displayed courage and professionalism and likely saved the lives of your clients as well. Well done sirs

 

[vgruan]

"On another note I just bought a .500MDM from Michael", quote by Hartzview Hunting Safaris.

Holey stinking cat-shit Batman, you MUST be on the big bucks !

Congrats and well done, welcome to the .50 club and the MDM family.
You're going to LOVE that .50
Should cut down the tracking jobs somewhat !!!

Without de-railing this thread i'll send you a p.m soon with some notes on the .500MDM

Thank you sir I appreciate it and no rush at all! When it comes to saving my life or somebody else's I don't think you can add a price tag to that and I must say Michael has really bent over backwards for me with helping me to buy this rifle.

Hope all is well back in Aussie!

Best regards,

Jacques

 

[PHOENIX PHIL]

"On another note I just bought a .500MDM from Michael", quote by Hartzview Hunting Safaris.

Holey stinking cat-shit Batman, you MUST be on the big bucks !

Congrats and well done, welcome to the .50 club and the MDM family.
You're going to LOVE that .50
Should cut down the tracking jobs somewhat !!!

Without de-railing this thread i'll send you a p.m soon with some notes on the .500MDM

He did get a bit of encouragement on this purchase from a .458B&M guy.

 

[vgruan]

He did get a bit of encouragement on this purchase from a .458B&M guy.

That is true thank you my friend...! I appreciate it very much!

 

[Wheels]

"On another note I just bought a .500MDM from Michael", quote by Hartzview Hunting Safaris.

Holey stinking cat-shit Batman, you MUST be on the big bucks !

Congrats and well done, welcome to the .50 club and the MDM family.
You're going to LOVE that .50
Should cut down the tracking jobs somewhat !!!

Without de-railing this thread i'll send you a p.m soon with some notes on the .500MDM

Paul,

Would it be possible for you to make a thread for all of us to see.

I would like to see your thoughts as well.

All the best.

 

[BRICKBURN]

....................but I guess everyone becomes an expert when watching a video...
We have tried to contain it as best we can but seemed to have failed. .....................

The fact that this was not contained had me searching these sources to bring it back to AH and redirect the momentum to reasonable discourse here and slow others from gaining from this misfortune.

 

[BRICKBURN]

Jacques, incredibly steady on my friend. You took the very first opportunity and made it count.

You just demonstrated the Professional in PH!

 

[gillettehunter]

All I can say is great job Jacques. Sounds like a tough situation. I'd say you did the best you could. Bruce

 

[vette447]

Thank you for posting and helping the community understand what happened. I am very thankful that Reinhard will be OK. You did a great job and should be commended. I can speak from experience that these lions are huge, wild and can earn your respect in a millisecond when you are standing on the ground with them in pursuit.

While I have not hunted with Jacques or Reinhart (yet), my experience helped me to understand that these African Professional Hunters are just that. Professional. Thanks!

 

[gizmo]

Jacques, God Bless you and Reinhard both. Thank you for shedding some light on this subject. As I said both of you are Hero's in my book. I am leaving in June for a lion and buff combo hunt. I have doubled my training since this initial post. Ya'lls actions were as valiant as I have ever seen. I am so glad that from my understanding Rienhard will recover. Both of you will be forever in my prayers as well as the rest of all of you PH's. God Bless.

 

[KWALATA SAFARIS]

The fact that this was not contained had me searching these sources to bring it back to AH and redirect the momentum to reasonable discourse here and slow others from gaining from this misfortune.

You legend!

 

[vgruan]

All I can say is great job Jacques. Sounds like a tough situation. I'd say you did the best you could. Bruce

Thank you my friend appreciate it.

 

[vgruan]

The fact that this was not contained had me searching these sources to bring it back to AH and redirect the momentum to reasonable discourse here and slow others from gaining from this misfortune.

Thank you Wayne as these type of situations can and will get a lot of tales as their spread like wild fire!

 

[lcq]

Thank you Wayne as these type of situations can and will get a lot of tales as their spread like wild fire!

and be used by the anti-hunting crowd to spread fear and disinformation about our sport.

 

[johnnyblues]

Scary for sure, especially since I want to hunt lion in the near future. From my take on the video it seems like everyone did the right things no hysteria just calm professional reaction to this terrible situation.

 

[johnnyblues]

You and Reinhard displayed courage and professionalism and likely saved the lives of your clients as well. Well done sirs

My hat off to you Jacques. You are truly a hero and reacted in the most professional way possible. Reinhard owes you his life and only by the grace of God is he still here with us. Everyone including myself who wants to hunt lion IMO needs to book with a PH with "lion experience" his or her life may depend on it.

 

[peras]

Hats of to you Jacques, nobody could have handled the situation in a more professional way!

 

[vgruan]

Hats of to you Jacques, nobody could have handled the situation in a more professional way!

Thank you Pieter I tried my best and I am glad I could help a fellow hunter.

Appreciate the kind words!

 

[johnnyblues]

Did the lion have Reinhard by the neck? Or shoulder?