alright - let me turn some heat up on this thread.
but first I will be humble. I have never hunted in Africa ... and certainly not lion.
perhaps i will be lucky and do some hunting in the future ... but more likely it will be bowhunting for antelope.
anyway ...
I would be curious about how many hunters could really "keep their cool" and make a good shot at a charging lion. forget what rifle you are holding. think about the man himself (or the woman). a charging lion is a pretty frightening situation. i'm not sure that many people have really "been there and done that". I do expect that some of the PH's on this thread HAVE really done this. So I would like to hear their realistic comments about how many clients could keep their nerves and make a good shot at a charging lion.
Upepo
I hunted with a Spanish client, who came with a most beautiful R8 Blaser rifle in 375 H&H. It was a 18 day safari including 2 elephant, 3 buff, leopard and a lion.
Now he was very particular that his rifle not ever ride in the gun rack, always in a soft case zipped up. Was fine by me. With the elephants he would always say I can hit it from here when we were still 100 meters away....anyway long story short.....
We had been tracking three male lions, that we had heard the night before. We had cut there tracks very early. These were lions patrolling there home range and they were on the move. We knew they would rest up as the day heated up. After 5hrs of tracking we did catch up. They were a magnificent band of brothers, two of them were spectacular dark maned lions and one was of lighter composure....sticks went up and the client made the shot.....too far back....now the lion put up a astonishing acrobatic display as he growled and snarled biting at the pain caused by the bullet.
This display was taking place about 45 meters from us, I knew from previous experience that as soon as this stopped the lion would focus his attention on the cause of his predicament and charge..I sternly commented to my client to "Ricarga!!! Tira!!! I had my 500 Jeff in the shoulder and just kept sight of the R8 barrel in my right peripheral vision. I could sense something being done on my right but no shot followed. I again replied more urgently Ricarga!!!Tira!!! at which point the lion stopped his acrobatics, focused those huge golden eyes on us and with a last deep throat-ed roar like grunt an stiff tail came at full charge....
More movement on my peripheral vision indicated the barrel of the R8 disappearing from view...not wanting to shoot the client lion unnecessarily I held my fire, nothing happened....at 15 yards I let the lion have it and he collapsed in a most satisfactory way end up facing the way he had come from. His tip of tail was close to me.
Looking at where my client was I saw the R8 lying in the sand, closer inspection revealed that he had indeed been reloading as instructed but not firing as he was supposed to do, the cartridges being ejected un fired...My tracker immediately wanted to pick up the rifle which I refused. Where was the client I asked? He ran away was the reply....
We dragged the lion between two trackers and myself under some shade. One tracker was instructed to go to the nearest track(we had stayed in contact with my driver in the Land Cruiser). I made myself comfortable against the lion in the shade and sent my head tracker to track and find our client. After 30 minutes he returned without the client. I was told that he had found the client but could not bring him back as he had ran a while and then opted to climb a geelhaak tree....now the fear of the lion had no effect on the pain of the thorns cutting into his flesh on the way up but he had gotten himself properly stuck. It took another 20 minutes for the truck to arrive and a further 40 minutes to reach the tree and cut the client free...when we returned to the lion the R8 was still lying exactly where it had been dropped.
Needless to say after that the R8 rode in the gun rack with the rest of the rifles...
So yes most clients love the hunting and the excitement, some get very nervous close to DG and some just cannot handle a charge when it happens....yes it is a very scary and intimidating thing to experience but running from it is the last thing you do...rather wet or soil yourself but you need to face it and sort it out...or well climb a geelhaak tree and spend one and a half hours in there until you are rescued....
I must admit that it is a good business model for the lion farmers though. As the lion matures generate revenue by having tourists watch, feed, and/or play with them. Once it matures, sell them to outfitters for shooting by hunters.
