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Ripp,

It really is a small world of folks who have actually been to Africa on Dangerous Game hunts. We often find that we know the same folks. I know some of your friends in the industry. I haven't hunted with Chifuti but I know Tim and Dave. I hunt with CMS which operates the Dande Safari Area now and is right next to Chewore North where Andrew and Paul are. They obviously know each other as well.

Nitro,

I certainly did not mean to imply that the canned lion industry should go away. I stated that the existence of these operators helps reduce the pressure on wild lion quotas. We all know that with the often corrupt African leaders in place, should pressure to increase wild lion quota be exerted, the increases would more than likely be granted in the name of $'s, placing the survival of the species at great peril.

The point of my post is really more about the operators being forthcoming in their practices. I just don't see the necessity to bull shit a client into believing something that is false. I think it comes down to laziness and $'s in the end on the part of the Lion operators. For example:

1) Guy comes over to hunt plains game on his first Safari. While in camp, PH says, hey, we just got word of a problem Lion available at a discount. Do you want to go hunt it. "Sure, I thought Lion hunting was much more expensive than that, what a great opportunity". So you drive to the area, the operator tells you how this lion came into his ranch by crawling under the fence and is now killing his expensive Kudu and Nyala and could you please take care of it, chop chop! The PH drives you around until he sees "the edge" in your eyes wain a bit, then heads over to where the lion was dropped off and you "HAVE TO SHOOT IT" from the back of the truck as it "attacks" the truck when in reality, it was just walking up to be fed.

2) Guy comes over to hunt plains game on his first Safari. While in camp, PH says, hey, we have lion available here. It's not the same as a true wild Lion hunt such as in Tanzania where you shoot 2 or 3 Buffalo and maybe a Hippo for bait and spend up to 21 days sorting out the lions that come to the bait, if any do at all. It's also $15,000 to $25,000 here as opposed to $100,000 or so in Tanzania, $50,000 or $60,000 in Zim. These are captive bred, similar to your Whitetail ranches back in the States, that have been released into the same type of enclosure you have been hunting this week. We will track the lion on foot from the time we enter the area so it can be quite challenging but you can expect to get your cat within the first day, maybe 2 since we are completely on foot. Just be aware that even though these are captive bred cats, they can be quite dangerous because of being raised around man all their lives, they have no fear of man.

IMO, the second scenario would have more hunters say "no, that's not for me", but would still sell enough Lion "hunts" to satisfy their available stock. I say stock because that really is what it is, stock animals. But, that same second scenario would provide a better experience for the hunter as he would have to work for it a bit being on foot instead of Diesel stalking for a couple of hours. In addition, there is no deception involved and the hunter doesn't have to have some made up story to tell his friends back home. Sooner or later, he will tell that story to a hunter who has hunted wild Lion and will be put straight!!

I don't want to see the SA Lion Operations go away. I just want them to stop the BS and make it respectable. It really wouldn't be that hard to do.

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