25 replies to this topic

[shakari]

I gather I can only post 4 pics at a time, so will do my best!

Hope you enjoy them.

[shakari]

[Cur Dog]

Man that is a great Jaguar. Maybe I will get a chance one day.

[shakari]

They're actually leopards not jaguars but that's not important.

Here's a few more.

[shakari]

[Groovy Mike]

Wow! that is quite a shot of the lion! How did you get that pic?

And come on don't hold out on the leopard story - we have to live it through you until we get there. Closest I ever came was tracks ....

[Cur Dog]

I meant Leopard, just got all excitied

[shakari]

The charging lion is just that, a charging lion but it looks more dramatic than it really was because I was in an elevated/safe position and the lion was on the brink of a hill and didn't know he couldn't get to me.

I'm a PH and although trying to get into semi retirement now used to do a lot of cat hunts. (Still do a few) The leopard with the .500 calibre hole in his face was wounded and I had to follow him up at night with another PH who works for us.......we both shot him in mid air as he about 6 yards from us. The other guy used a 12 gauge and I used my 500. This cat was the first of two I took out of the same tree 12 days apart..... the second one was the pic of the leopard on the dead tree.

The lion with the 500 calibre hole in his face was one of an entire pride that was coming into camp every night and trying to eat my staff. - As the client had lion on licence, he took that one. As it was so close to camp, he'd asked me to shoot on report and I did. - I wrote about that one in an article on our website but I don't know if the rules allow me to post links here so for now I won't. - The site is a free African info website and not a commercial one but I don't want to incur the wrath of the moderators.

The croc fishing pic is one of my silly hobbies. I use a dead francolin as bait, no hooks and rely on them swallowing the bait and then when I bank 'em, I just pull until they regurgitate the bait. Biggest I've got to the bank is about 3 yards and biggest I've lost is about 31/2 yards....... It's a lotta fun though.

Below is a couple of pics you might enjoy. I appreciate this story is hard to believe, but I swear on a stack of bibles, it's absolutely true with no exaggeration at all.

I was guiding a photo safari and the clients wanted an afternoon off so I left them at the pool and went for a walk with a buddy of mine who worked in that area to look for spoor that the clients might be interested later in the day.

He took his rifle and I took my camera. After an hour or so, we spotted two lions in the bush and he told me he'd hand reared them and then they had been released into the bush about a year before. He was pretty confident they'd recognised him and whilst one wandered off, the other walked towards us and his body language told us he wasn't in predator mode. I knelt down and started taking pictures and to be honest, got lost in the lens a bit. He walked right up to me, sat down and licked the end of my lens.......... and then yawned. I couldn't resist it and leaned forward a little and stuck the lens into his mouth...... the camera shake in the second pic was caused partly by the saliva on the lens and partly by the second lion, who I'd completely forgotten about and had sneaked up behind me and at the millisecond I hit the shutter has licked the back of my neck........ I've gotta tell you, it scared the [Excuse my language.... I have a limited vocabulary] out of me!

[shakari]

Forgot to tell you about the especially big leopard with me in jeans and a leather jacket.

That one was taken in an area on the Botswana/SA border in Botswana. This area has more leopard in it than any other area I've come across in over 30 years of hunting Africa. Within 24 hours of hanging baits, we had 3 or 4 on bait and then chose the biggest one. took a while to get this one comfortable on the bait but we know we'd get him if we were patient...... memory tells me we took him on about day 12 of a 14 day hunt.

Botswana leopard licences are hard to get nowadays and we haven't had one for this area for 2 or 3 years but have one for this year. Haven't advertised it yet as we're waiting on prices but I've no doubt it'll sell.

[Cur Dog]

Shakari,
Wow, great pics. I really enjoyed the story on the lion photo's. I am sure I would probly have jumped had he licked me on the back of my neck.
Cur Dog

[shakari]

Cur Dog

Yup, it was an interesting experience to say the least.

I took my parents to the same place about a year later and sent them off on a game drive whilst I was buggering about trying to photograph a leopard..... to cut a long story short, they drove past us at one point and one of the guests said to the driver, "who is that guy with the camera and the death wish", my old man tells me, my dear old mum replied, "that's my bloody idiot son'

[PA Hillbilly]

Nice pictures

[shakari]

Here's a few of 'ol big ears for you:

[Cur Dog]

Shakari,

Ya know I have pulled some things in my time, but had I lived in Africa my mom would have said the same about me. Thank God for getting older and comeing to senses.

[Chiefs]

Great Photos, trying to get back ovr myself for Cape Buffalo.

[shakari]

Chiefs said:

Great Photos, trying to get back ovr myself for Cape Buffalo.

It's never gonna get any cheaper my friend and for those that can take a challenging hunt then 2010 is gonna be something special indeed.

I try not to advertise or sell hunts on the forums but guys can contact me if they want info.

[Laststep]

Wow those are great cats....
What do you think the weight of those thusk were?
Dan

[shakari]

Dan,

I take it you're referring to the bottom two pics? - Which are of the same elephant.

In which case, I'd say they're around 90 odd pounds a side but probably wouldn't quite make the 100 lbs a side.

FWIW, east African elephants tend to have longer, thinner tusks than southern African elephants that have shorter, thicker tusks.

[Laststep]

Steve I was responding to the last picture.
Great photo's and a great animal.
Thanks I did enjoy them Dan

[spk1142]

Where was the leopard hunt at? I wanted to hunt one but the cost is prohibitive for me unfortunately and my wife won't let me sell our home for the money--what a drag