Sundowner Tales

Few would argue that hunting Africa’s big cats is one of hunting’s most exciting – and potentially dangerous – endeavors.

You’re matching wits with a supreme predator that sits at the top of his food chain. A savage cat temper combined with large bone-crushing teeth and claws that grab like steel hooks, makes the lion one of the most formidable predators on earth. He’s equipped to kill, and his deadly skills are honed well enough to bring down big game like, buffalo, giraffe and zebra.

In 2011, I returned to my old stomping grounds in Kenya to field-test new shotguns during a traditional tented-camp wingshooting safari.

It’s often said, and I agree, that an African safari may be the last great adventure on earth. So, when a special location was sought for field-testing a new line of Italian shotguns, it was suggested that Kenya’s historic gamefields might provide the ideal place for a unique and exciting bird-shooting safari. Offering an unusual combination of classic sporting history, demanding conditions, and challenging shooting, a more fascinating place for wingshooting would be hard to find. For me, returning to Kenya would be particularly special, for it was there that my African hunting began back in the late 1960s when my family lived there.

There are no benchrests in the field, so help your aim by utilizing other objects for a steady rest—or use shooting sticks!

I’ll never forget one of my first hunts in Kenya back in the 1960s. Up until then, most of my previous shooting had been done with a shotgun for birds, so sitting in the front of the Land Rover holding onto a .300 H&H rifle felt like a dream. My father drove a faint hunting track that wound and twisted through acacia and commiphora woodland. We headed toward an area that had recently received some rainfall where we would pitch camp and, hopefully, find plenty of game.

Poaching in Tsavo National Park between 1974 and 1976 caused the elephant population to plummet almost 45%, from 35,900 to 20,200. Big tuskers, like this one photographed in 1982, in Tsavo West became a rare sight.

If a bull elephant had been born in 1977, today he’d be approaching 35 years old—a mature animal that would have had plenty of opportunities to pass on his DNA. If it was the right kind and given a nutrient-rich habitat providing him plentiful and nutritious forage, his tusks might be approaching the century mark in weight: 100 pounds per tusk. That is, if he had not been born in Kenya. For had he been, the odds of him living much past his teenage years wouldn’t have been good— ironic considering that Kenya banned big-game hunting 35 years ago under the auspices of concern for the future of their wildlife.

Elephant hunting has changed enormously over the past 35 years, and today it presents a very different picture from what it was back in the 1970s.

When asked what my favorite type of hunting is, I’m quick to answer – whatever I happen to be hunting at the time. Having hunted Africa’s big game for many years, both personally and professionally, does not diminish my enjoyment of hot-barreled, fast-action bird shooting, the excitement of watching mallards cupped and committed to the decoys, or the anticipation of waiting for a big “Tom” turkey firing off booming gobbles that get louder and louder the closer he gets.