Last part of the report. After we got my buffalo on the morning of day 3 we had some lunch and went to check on baits that evening. I believe when we arrived at the 3rd bait sight and noticed something had been feeding. As soon I saw the 2 lioness on the trail cams my heart started pounding and I was just full of excitement. We had 2 shooters on bait that were on site for a couple of hours.
Immediately Lin had the trackers get started on the blind and we were going to be sitting on this bait tonight. Standing there watching them make the blind and thinking I might shoot a lioness tonight was just a humbling experience. All kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. After all these years of thinking and dreaming about a lion, is tonight going to be the night? Will I actually get to put my hands on a animal I have been dreaming about and watching countless hours of videos? Will I finally be able to send my 5 year old a picture of a lion so he does not ask me every morning if I got my lion yet.
Well after sitting on the bait that night the lioness did not come back in. So, we decided to leave around 10 pm and come back in early in 5am. We parked the truck about 20-25 minute walk away from the blind and snuck in around 5am. After several hours of sitting in the blind we called it and went to check trail cams. Looks like we missed 2 large male lions on the bait just 10 mins before we arrived wondering if we scared them off.
The next day we went out to look for tracks and we found 2 lioness tracks crossing the road on another part of the property so we pulled some bait from another area and hung them up close to the tracks and did some dragging. We checked the next morning, which was my last day, no lioness. I told Lin I would like to try hyena at night. We went around and dropped all our bait and put them under a tree built a blind for the hyena which we would come back in the afternoon and do some calling. We got to the bait sight around sunset started calling. Within 15 minutes we heard hyena’s at a distance and they were coming in hot. While we stood there in the dark, we hear a loud thrashing coming in from the brush then 3-4 loud roars from a lion! I can’t begin explain the feeling of fear, excitement, and adrenaline that hit me all at once. Before I knew it hyena was screaming lions were roaring! Then they started fighting and chasing each other around. I must say that was one of the most exciting and thrilling hunts I have ever experienced. I was using Lin’s rifle which had a thermal scope 2 times I scanned and got a lion on the cross hairs, but both were males. Which ended scaring the hyena off the bait. At that point I did not even care if I got a hyena or a lion my heart was pumping and the experience alone was worth being out there.
Even though I did not get my lion which I blame myself for cutting the hunt short 3 days because of prior arrangements. I had a truly amazing time, learned a lot, and made unforgettable memories. I do believe if we had the 3 extra days I would have harvested my lion but there is a part of me that is kind of glad I did not because now I have no other choice but to book another lioness hunt and do it all over again. Lin and the team were great, I could not ask for a better team to hunt with. We hunted hard all day and night. I have already asked Lin to count me in next year for a lioness hunt!
Immediately Lin had the trackers get started on the blind and we were going to be sitting on this bait tonight. Standing there watching them make the blind and thinking I might shoot a lioness tonight was just a humbling experience. All kinds of thoughts were running through my mind. After all these years of thinking and dreaming about a lion, is tonight going to be the night? Will I actually get to put my hands on a animal I have been dreaming about and watching countless hours of videos? Will I finally be able to send my 5 year old a picture of a lion so he does not ask me every morning if I got my lion yet.
Well after sitting on the bait that night the lioness did not come back in. So, we decided to leave around 10 pm and come back in early in 5am. We parked the truck about 20-25 minute walk away from the blind and snuck in around 5am. After several hours of sitting in the blind we called it and went to check trail cams. Looks like we missed 2 large male lions on the bait just 10 mins before we arrived wondering if we scared them off.
The next day we went out to look for tracks and we found 2 lioness tracks crossing the road on another part of the property so we pulled some bait from another area and hung them up close to the tracks and did some dragging. We checked the next morning, which was my last day, no lioness. I told Lin I would like to try hyena at night. We went around and dropped all our bait and put them under a tree built a blind for the hyena which we would come back in the afternoon and do some calling. We got to the bait sight around sunset started calling. Within 15 minutes we heard hyena’s at a distance and they were coming in hot. While we stood there in the dark, we hear a loud thrashing coming in from the brush then 3-4 loud roars from a lion! I can’t begin explain the feeling of fear, excitement, and adrenaline that hit me all at once. Before I knew it hyena was screaming lions were roaring! Then they started fighting and chasing each other around. I must say that was one of the most exciting and thrilling hunts I have ever experienced. I was using Lin’s rifle which had a thermal scope 2 times I scanned and got a lion on the cross hairs, but both were males. Which ended scaring the hyena off the bait. At that point I did not even care if I got a hyena or a lion my heart was pumping and the experience alone was worth being out there.
Even though I did not get my lion which I blame myself for cutting the hunt short 3 days because of prior arrangements. I had a truly amazing time, learned a lot, and made unforgettable memories. I do believe if we had the 3 extra days I would have harvested my lion but there is a part of me that is kind of glad I did not because now I have no other choice but to book another lioness hunt and do it all over again. Lin and the team were great, I could not ask for a better team to hunt with. We hunted hard all day and night. I have already asked Lin to count me in next year for a lioness hunt!
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