SOUTH AFRICA: A Lifelong Report!

[mark-hunter]

@Ike85123
Pls continue with your story! Many of us, would like to hear it!

 

[Randy F]

I don’t disagree with you on being respectful. However fabrications shouldn’t be tolerated. There needs to be some integrity on this forum or it’s value disappears. I hope these stories are true, but there are some obvious discrepancies and embellishments which should be expected with drinking, but might also be a sign of something further.

Valid point and very much agree when it comes to outright purposeful fabrications.

 

[Roller]

Incredible or not, it's free entertainment. I want to hear more about the 7 lions.

 

[spike.t]

Sadly, when a poster comes here and has some some pretty fantastic tales, and then is politely corrected about plausibility of one claim or other, they often will at that point or soon thereafter get offended and want to take their ball and go home.
I have no idea of the claims made here, none, but must admit they do sort of come off as a bit fanciful.
First Big 5 at 8 years old? Uh huh.

Yeah been going over and over @Ike85123 posts and yeah first lot of big 5 taken at age 8....ike I am not being nasty but too much just doesn't add up....the numbers of buffalo ..lions etc taken in this years you say is not possible....if it was back in the 1930s to 1950s possibly in certain circumstances....and as I said previously Livingstone is in Zambia and the time you are talking about you just couldn't jump across borders as and when you wanted...now as said not being nasty just finding it all a bit far fetched....prove me wrong as I will quite happily apologise..cheers mike

 

[Ike85123]

Yeah been going over and over @Ike85123 posts and yeah first lot of big 5 taken at age 8....ike I am not being nasty but too much just doesn't add up....the numbers of buffalo ..lions etc taken in this years you say is not possible....if it was back in the 1930s to 1950s possibly in certain circumstances....and as I said previously Livingstone is in Zambia and the time you are talking about you just couldn't jump across borders as and when you wanted...now as said not being nasty just finding it all a bit far fetched....prove me wrong as I will quite happily apologise..cheers mike

The hangover wasnt that bad, thanks for asking. As I didnt sleep that day, until the next. I had to help my wife with her pain management.
My story was jumping back and forth between when I was 6 and 16. I guess the beer had alot to do with that.
I certainly didnt take any dg at 8 yrs old. I wasnt even allowed out of the truck to stalk to stalk with my uncle til I was 15 yrs old. Except i was allowed to sit in a leopard blind when i was 8 urs old. I cant tell you where that was with any certainty.
We never entered zim to my knowledge. This hunt was over a 7 week period. Involving about 15 days on horses and 2 plane trips. I was trying to tell.my story as I remembered it, from 33 yrs ago. If something is incorrect? Then it is ?
I believe that clears up most of my drunken mistakes.
But, I would like to leave it here. It doesnt seem like a worthy story going forward.
Seems like a lot of people are out to discredit instead of give feed back and disuss hunting.
Or as the one member said. I must be lying becouse I took offense to being called a liar.
I just dont see this as a winning fight.
I really joined on here to destress and talk. Not to explain every turn we took on this trip.
I figure at the end of the day, people will believe what they will anyway.

 

[sestoppelman]

By your own admission some of the story was completely fabricated. How do you expect people to react? Pretty obvious in the century you are talking about, the claims were just not doable.
First Big 5 at 8 years old is a pretty bold claim right?
So dont be sore because you got called out, and no one called you a liar, just questioned the veracity of your stories.
There is a great amount of knowledge and experience on this board, you should take advantage of that knowledge and try to learn something instead of expecting those same folks to buy a bunch of baloney.
Blaming your beer drinking is just an excuse, and so is blaming the 33 years ago that it supposedly took place.
My own first safari was 36 years ago and I surely dont remember all the details at this point, but pretty sure I didnt take the Big 5 nor 100 buffalo etc.
No doubt you have some interesting factual stories that you could share, but just dont make the mistake that so many do of trying to make a good story better, because as you can see it usually falls flat.

 

[One Day...]

Difficult subject… but simple fix...

This reminds me of the case of an active, long tenured, AH member who will remain unnamed here and whose authoritative and occasionally condescending posts, claiming lifelong PH experience, superior knowledge, and considerable DG bag, and whose posts can sometimes be traced to direct copy/paste from other internet sources, led a few of us to be curious about his credentials.

Polite questions about in which country he was licensed, at what time he was a PH, for which outfitter, etc. or simple asks for pictures of the rifles described, the trophies taken, etc. triggered virtuous responses along the line of not having the need to prove anything, justify himself to anyone, needing pictures to be trustworthy, etc. etc.

It is a difficult balance to strike. This is not about readers seeking to discredit, this is about readers wanting their trust not to be abused, and reacting when they question whether it is.

Fictional writing can be entertaining too, but it falls in a different category.

For writing that is portrayed as representing actual events, I am personally always eager for pictures, not as proof per se, but as validation that the writer shares an actual experience, from which I can learn, rather than regurgitates internet, magazines, or book reading.

Of course, not every sentence needs backing, but an occasional pic goes a long way to establish credibility. For example, going back to the above unnamed AH member, it seems hard to believe that someone who claims to have been a PH his entire life would be unwilling to say in which country, when, and with which outfitter, and would not have a single pic of the many big 5 reportedly taken with clients, or would not have a single pic of rifles reportedly owned, etc. etc. etc. while at the same time having in his media folder a couple period pictures of a few plains game...

There are AH members who have genuinely larger than life experiences, absolutely worth sharing, for learning or entertainment purpose (I am NOT one of them!), and such members should consider posting along some old faded photographs for illustration. Some members do this very well. For example, Major Khan and Professor Mawla's abundantly illustrated writings on shikar on the Indian subcontinent have been fascinating and very instructive to read. I certainly hope that Ike85123's further writings (grammar be damned) will be too.

As a way to illustrate, I hope that Professor Mawla will not mind my using one of this great articles. The opening sentence "In the last 48 years of my life , I have shot 11 marauding Royal Bengal tigers" could have been challenging in a vacuum, but the beautiful old black & white picture instantly grounds the story in larger than life but very real experience...

In our sad days of endlessly abused trust by media, politicians, salesmen, social media "influencers", on-line "experts", and other various internet buffoons, kindly allow Ike85123 that "if it is not on paper it does not exist" and please do scrounge in the old cardboard shoebox to share a few old yellowed pics along with the story

 

[Ike85123]

By your own admission some of the story was completely fabricated. How do you expect people to react? Pretty obvious in the century you are talking about, the claims were just not doable.
First Big 5 at 8 years old is a pretty bold claim right?
So dont be sore because you got called out, and no one called you a liar, just questioned the veracity of your stories.
There is a great amount of knowledge and experience on this board, you should take advantage of that knowledge and try to learn something instead of expecting those same folks to buy a bunch of baloney.
Blaming your beer drinking is just an excuse, and so is blaming the 33 years ago that it supposedly took place.
My own first safari was 36 years ago and I surely dont remember all the details at this point, but pretty sure I didnt take the Big 5 nor 100 buffalo etc.
No doubt you have some interesting factual stories that you could share, but just dont make the mistake that so many do of trying to make a good story better, because as you can see it usually falls flat.

First buddy, I didn't fabricate shit !
And i never said i took 100 buffalo on that hunt. I said 100 was my lifes goal.
Yes, i was drunk and my thoughts were jumping back and forth . But i didn't make up a dam thing!

 

[sestoppelman]

You said early on you did your first big 5 at 8 years old, then recanted and said it didnt happen. So you tell us, which is it, the first story or the second one?

"I completed my first big 5, in 1980". You would have been 8 years old.
"I certainly didnt take any dg at 8 yrs old".

Your words, buddy., not mine.

 

[TXhunter65]

Ike, I would have loved to have heard the rest of your story. All I can say at this point is I'm sorry it appears that isn't going to happen. I hope you would reconsider and could ignore anyone who questions your recollection... they can click on another thread.

 

[sestoppelman]

Ike, I would have loved to have heard the rest of your story. All I can say at this point is I'm sorry it appears that isn't going to happen. I hope you would reconsider and could ignore anyone who questions your recollection... they can click on another thread.

If I want to hear BS I watch the news.

 

[Ike85123]

You said early on you did your first big 5 at 8 years old, then recanted and said it didnt happen. So you tell us, which is it, the first story or the second one?

"I completed my first big 5, in 1980". You would have been 8 years old.
"I certainly didnt take any dg at 8 yrs old".

Your words, buddy., not mine.

I simply typed in the wrong date. Use your head !

 

[Ike85123]

If I want to hear BS I watch the news.

F off !

 

[sestoppelman]

And there ya go!! Have a good one.

 

[375Fox]

Surely there is an old photo of a 6 year old with a 50 inch kudu and a photo of 15 year old with a black mained lion/7 lions that could put an end to all this? You have to realize this is more than most people will believe just at face value, especially with the inconsistencies.

 

[Ike85123]

Surely there is an old photo of a 6 year old with a 50 inch kudu and a photo of 15 year old with a black mained lion/7 lions that could put an end to all this? You have to realize this is more than most people will believe just at face value, especially with the inconsistencies.

Yep, im on it. My brother is already looking. But the kudu pic is with me and my dad. And the lion pic, is me with 3 lions. Will be posting !

 

[Ike85123]

I kinda thought a little commin sense would see this as a typo??,

Obviously I wasnt allowed out of the truck for dg til I was 15 ???

 

[One Day...]

Yep, im on it. My brother is already looking. But the kudu pic is with me and my dad. And the lion pic, is me with 3 lions. Will be posting !

Awesome! Thank you Ike, and we can all dismiss the last few posts that truly do not add anything to the story, and resume your reminiscences

In his book A Hunter's Hunter - A Lifetime of African Safari, Robin Hurt tells how he got his first rifle (a Krico .22 LR) at 8, shot his first leopard at 12 with his Grandmother .256 (6.5x54 I assume) Mannlicher, first Buffalo at 14, etc. in the mid to end 1950's in Kenya and I am not aware of anyone questioning him on those. Of course not everyone has Robin Hurt's fame, and this is all wonderfully illustrated with period pictures, and I do not know the realities of rural life in 1970's Rhodesia, and how different, or not, it was from rural life in late 1950's Kenya, but I see no reason to think that Robin Hurt's life experience would be unique amongst this era and this area's youths.

Like sestoppelman I did hiccup in your initial post when I bumped into the 1980 date, but I dismissed it in view of the previous sentence about not being allowed to leave the truck until 15. I assumed that completion of the big 5 automatically implied that it was after you were able to leave the truck, hence after you were 15. Maybe 1990 is the right date? If such is the case, just saying so would go a longer distance that advising folks to go play with themselves in a ways their preacher would reprove of

All this being said, I stick to my earlier advice in an above post about old pictures , and I look forward to seeing them and reading the tale

 

[TXhunter65]

If I want to hear BS I watch the news.

Well, thank God you're here to save the rest of us.

 

[sestoppelman]

Well, thank God you're here to save the rest of us.