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9,3 , we found the track of a big lion in the road, and knowing that the lion that we where trying to get a shot at, dragged his one rear foot very slightly, thought that we where on the right track. We followed the track for about 12 km with my Land Cruiser, and one of my trackers sitting on the bull bar to see where the cat has left the road. We found a spot next to the road about 12km after starting the tracking job, where he had been lying down on top of a dune. He propably heard the vehicle, as the tracks now indicated that he jumped up and ran into the wind. Now the tracking became more difficult, and my trackers took the track on foot for another 13 km or so, before we saw him cresting the top of the next dune. We quickly tried and get a shot, but he was gone before the hunter could shoot. (The hunter was using a .416 Remington on a M70 Winchester Classic Safari Express rifle, and 400gr Swift A-Frame bullets.) He gave us a chance on the next dune though, not much of a chance but at least a full second of standing broadside, looking at us. As he turned to run, the hunter shot, and just creased him on top of the shoulder hump. We saw him climbing the next dune, and I instructed my client to put a bullet into any part he can see now, to slow him down and make sure we do not loose a wounded animal. He shot him in the right back leg, going away and angling for the lungs, and I told him that we will now get him easy. How wrong I was...
The bloodspoor headed into a really thick patch of black thorn, and I fully expected us to have to shoot the lion off the end of the barrel. About 500m and half a gallon of sweat later, we where through that bad patch of vegetation, and as we came onto another dune, Ricardo (one of my trackers), spotted the lion about 600m away, as he went into a bush on top of yet another dune. We got up close, and knowing where he was lying, we circled upwind and uphill, to make a charge less likely, and then my client shot it from about 20 yards, ending the affair with a last loud roar.
It was the lion that we where trying to get, and what an magnificent animal it was!

The Swifts performed very well, the shot into the back leg went on into one of the lungs, and the broadside finishing shot excited.
That lion climbed another 2 steep dunes and covered a lot of very sandy terrain, even with one lung starting to fail. So much for lions being soft skinned...

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Karl Stumpfe
Ndumo Hunting Safaris (Pty) Ltd.
karl@huntingsafaris.net
www.huntingsafaris.net
+264 811 285 416

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