Really?.............................
Lions are part of Wildlife management same as all other animals in Africa. Lions and lion hunting to begin with is a valuable commodity. All Wildlife in Africa has great value to the people who live there, the small towns and most are simple villages. These people are very simply trying their best to survive from one day to the next, literally.
In the specific case of Lion hunting, lets consider the value to the local community. Lions like all other wildlife is regulated, there are permits issued each year and quotas set. Similar to our own wildlife management programs here in the USA. This quota is given out to local outfitters and Professional Hunters, and sold as hunts for large sums of money, which in part goes back direct to the community village or local township. This gives enormous incentive to the local community to protect the local wildlife, it has value to them personally, and in some cases is the only source of outside income to the community. Lets say that lion hunting is banned and there is no more lion hunting allowed at all. Now these same lions, have NO VALUE to the local community. Yet, these same lions many times take the easy route for food, meaning the local cattle, goats, and whatever other livestock the local people may be trying to survive on. Lions have no value now, and they are preying on local live stock that the villagers absolutely now depend on for their very survival. What do you think is going to happen to the lions now?
The same goes for all wildlife in Africa.......... It must have value to the local community, or it simply won't exist.
Two of the lions I took in Zimbabwe in 2000 a male and female were troublesome lions. In June of 2000 Robert Mugabe President set a new course for Zimbabwe, and started seizing property of white farmers and all white owned businesses. This caused quite a stir and lots of concerns for visiting hunters in many areas. A PH Friend of mine contacted me and all his hunters had canceled their hunts because of these concerns. Richard Cooke. Richard had at the time the Matetsi Concession just outside of Victoria Falls about an hours drive. This is one of the most incredible hunting areas in the world. Richard had a problem in one of the local villages with lions preying on local livestock, being a general nuisance, even attempting to get inside huts at night scaring the folks to death. In another area about 30 minute drive further there was a game farm about 20000 acres, this was photographic and fenced. A group of lions had been raiding and killing the wildlife there several nights each week. The owner at the time was screaming for some help from Richard, but he had no hunters........ and could not be everywhere at once anyway. I got the call, and within a few days was on a plane to Victoria Falls.
I did not have a lot of time to devote on short notice, I was able to put 8 days on the ground. We hunted hard, putting up baits daily, catch a few hours sleep in the afternoon and head out to one place or another every evening and out most all night. It was grueling to say the least. On the fifth day we needed a bait in this one area, and had not been lucky enough to shoot anything, and we were worn out to boot, we bought a cow from one of the locals and got part of it up for bait, then back to camp for a few hours rest. Getting on towards late evening, just before dark we headed out, Richard had lost his knife, but thought he might have left it at the bait we had just put up. We were going over to the Game Farm, and the bait was just off the road on the way, we decided to stop by and check on the knife. We drove down the sandy road/trail to the bait and sure enough his knife was laying on a rock close to the bait. He put that away and we were on the way back out, I was looking for tracks on the way and sure enough a damn lion had just walked across the road in our tracks coming in! Stopping, we just looked to the left and on the top of a tiny little rise, no more than 3-4 feet stood a male lion, I jumped out of my side, it was dusky dark, Lions own the night, they are not afraid of you, your truck or anything else, he stood, I bolted up the 458 Winchester and slammed him in the shoulder........... roar, and disappear completely? Ok...... maybe not good? I felt confident of the shot, but crap happens, especially when it happens fast.
And now it is full on dark as 6 foot up a cows ass. Fortunately we did have lights, we were hunting at night.......... VERY VERY VERY slowly we approached the small rise the lion was standing on...... it was less than 20 yards from the road. But we took a very slow approach, looking all around, because now there were at least two other lions close by........ watching out for those two, and trying to find what happened to the one I shot................ after what seemed an eternity we finally topped the small rise, my lion was there just behind it stone cold, DRT ................ Whew.......... Now, there was two more lions to consider. Shining the light, there was a large female about 25 steps out..... roaring and carrying on, not happy with us at all............ Richard had one male permit and 18 female permits here in this area........ we had taken one male, and decided to take this female............ Rifle up, take the shot, this one was just behind the shoulder, lion jumps, runs, disappears........... Roaring and making one hell of a racket.......... after a minute or so the roaring quit, and we approached......... on the approach another male lion was seen just off to our left, about 50 yards just watching us........ we had to keep an eye on him, and look for the down female.......... We found the female had fell over in a small ravine about 6-7 feet deep, at the bottom again stone cold.............
We didn't have enough help to get the lions loaded in the truck, so Rich went back to the truck and sent one of his guys back to retrieve some assistance. We stayed on the spot watching the other male lion the same as he was watching us......... help arrived, they loaded the lions up as Rich and I both stood guard in case the other male became agitated. Had Richard had another male permit on quota, I would have gladly sorted him out on the spot, but it was not to be, and things were tough enough in Zimbabwe at that time we did not want to push issues unless forced to.
We finished out my remaining days trying to catch up with the group of lions raiding the Game Farm, but we never was able to make contact. The one lone male we left at the Matetsi decided to vacate the area for safer grounds and no longer bothered the local population.
The other lion in Mozambique was actually a scheduled lion hunt from the year before. Things changed when we arrived however, it seems that in the area we were going to hunt a week before a group of lions had actually treed a group of people that were traveling from the outlying village to the local town for supplies, about 25 people as told to us. This group of lions kept these people treed for days, waiting patiently until they finally tired and fell out of the trees....... well, you know everyone did not survive. Authorities finally arrived and drove the lions out. The mission had changed and we were to try and thin these lions out. On the third night I connected with a large male by calling him in. It was late about 3 am, we had been running a hyena feeding call and another male lion call roaring. We heard this lion from an extreme distance at first, and in just a few minutes he let out a roar probably less than 100 yards to our right. In very short order he pitched up at the bait we had set up, and I took careful aim dead on the shoulder and turned the 458 loose once more. It was down at the shot, roaring and pitching all kinds of hell, but broken and could not get back up. I finished it and that was pretty much the end of this story.......... Hunting another 10 days or so my hunting partner connected with a large female, but the rest of the group left the area we suppose, no more were seen, or heard..........
No, you don't eat lions............... but they do sometimes want to eat you..............
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