My most unique was hunt a few decades ago in Botswana. Since my youth, hunting the African Lion was dream I felt destined to fulfill. I happened, and every aspect of the hunt was fascinating. I found that the most challenging part of the hunt was finding the right Professional Hunter. After quite a bit of back and forth, I was able to hire Ronny Blackbeard, a quite renown, specialist Lion hunter that earned his reputation from the age of 14 single handedly eliminating a cattle killing pride of lions from the neighboring farm of the then President of Botswana. Back then there was no baiting. All lions were to be tracked on foot. For this, Ronny had two Bushman he used exclusively, both which he raised and supported from their youth. In preparation for the hunt he insisted that with my H&H, 500-450 double Express Rifle, that I be able to hit a coffee can off hand at 25 yards with two fast consecutive shots. He did have me demonstrate this upon arrival to camp. As an aside, this rifle was a Dominion grade H&H produced originally in 1904 for W.Buckley, a famous author, hunter, guide, adventurer, and officer in Rhodesian conflict. As the Kynoch ammo was long discontinued, I had to construct custom 480gr loads using custom dyes(Huntington) to neck down readily available 470 brass, found that the Woodliegh SP bullets were produced with the Kynock ogive, and adapted fast burning modern powders with kapok filler to achieve the original H&H standard regulation of the open sights….4 shots, 2 per barrel, 1.5", at 50 yards, POA. IThe rifle has some serious provenance. In addition to being originally purchased by Buckley, years prior to my purchase, this rifle had been in the possession of Elmer Keith and Ed Fowler. I still have a few of Keith's old reloads which were supplied with the rifle.
The hunt took place in the Chobe region of Botswana, low 40's at night, 90's during the day, long dry grass, Mopane scrub, and thorn bush. A few days prior to my arrival, Ronny had received word from a farmer that his only cow had been killed and eaten by a small pride of lions. We went to the farm where the old wood fence had been broken down by the pride, and the cow dragged out and consumed. The trackers quickly picked up the track which consisted of two males and a female. For a day and a half and several miles of thick brush it was purely amazing to watch the trackers at work. Slow and quite, for most of the distance I was only in socks to keep noise at a minimum. We finally came upon the pride which was bedded down in the long grass at a few paces! Almost instantly, the younger male and the female circled to the left of us, tails lashing and growing at 20 feet. Ronny and the trackers were occupied with them, all yelling and waving to get them to leave. With no back-up, Ronny yelled for me to shoot the male which was now up, growing, and in a position to move towards us. My first shot(seen in the photo, was a killing chest shot, but he turned towards me still up when I placed a 2nd frontal chest shot which put him down(see expanded 480gr Woodliegh which ended up fully expanded under the hind quarter skin, weighing 468gr! At the shot, the other two lions ran off, and Ronny instructed me to put an insurance shot into the downed cat. All this occurred in less then 30 seconds, but it felt like an hour! As the "high" wore off we moved the cat to the shade to keep it cool while Ronny went for the vehicle. While sitting there with that Lion, I couldn't help placing my arm in its incredibly fanged jaws. What I didn't see was one of the comedian Bushman trackers pressed his toe against the lions chest. The escaping air resulted in a LOUD growl. I'd swear my heart stopped beating! The trackers were rolling on the ground. When Ronny returned and the told him of the joke, he washed my arm down with gasoline to kill the ever present bacteria in the carnivores mouth. As to the Lion, aside from my keeping the hide snd having a chest mount made, it served the Titswanna tribe living behind our camp quite well. The entire cat was made into jerky, and the elders made a soup out of the it's tongue. Ronny told me that by consuming the soup, they believed that they would know if their wives were disloyal!
Overall, I remember this hunt as if it were yesterday, and consider one of my most unique and memorable experiences of 50+ years of hunting.
Pics: Recovered 480 gr 458 cal Woodliegh, Lion/H&H 500-450 with insert of Lion of W. Buckley 1904 with my rifle,