Back from Zambia

[Bill T]

I crawled home yesterday afternoon after about 38 hours in transit! Man, what a long trip that was, about 25 days from start to finish and the middle 23 days were in about the most wild and remote part of Africa.
I'm still trying to get myself back into the time zone but I'll give you guys a quick report on the hunt. The lion stuff went exceptionally well, first day we went out and shot a big bull hippo with a 375 H&H for bait, and cut it up into four BIG baits. We hung 3 of them and within the first night we got a hit on one by a lioness. Next day the lioness had 2 young boyfriends join her but the big news was that the second bait had been hit by a BIG male with 7" mane hairs. We built a blind in a brushy area on the ground about 18 yards from the bait and returned that night (night 4 of the hunt) with intentions of staying all night if the lion didn't come in before dark in the hopes that it would be there still at first light. Just before sunset a bushbuch barked near us and we were on high alert waiting for him to arrive but as it started to get really dark I was pretty much resigned to a night at ground zero of a lion bait in nothing more than a thin grass hide. Dave, the camera guy, suddenly whispered that a lion was there and I grabbed the bow and leaned forward to see out the shooting hole. The lion stood at around 22 yards broadside with it's mane billowing in the wind, then laid down like a sphynx quartering forward in a less than ideal shooting position, watching the blind. My PH mike was going ballistic telling me to shoot but I was going through some mental gymnastics trying to decide whether to shoot at such a tough angle. I looked at Dave and he confirmed that it was on camera but very dark. The clincher in the decision was that I REALLY didn't want to spend 12 hours listening to him roar and eat hippo 18 yards away, and I decided to take the shot.
I put the crosshair right on his front leg and squeezed the shot off. The arrow smacked him and quartered back towards his back right leg and he roared and got out of there as quick as possible, circling back to where he came from behind the bait tree. I knew that it was a killing shot, but not perfect, so we very quietly bailed out the back of the blind and headed to the truck. One thing that isn't a good idea is to track lions at night, so we waited till next day at dawn to see what happened. Since the bait was very close to the North Luangua Park I slept pretty poorly worrying that the lion had gone across the border and would become a nightmare to recover. Next morning the trackers only went a tad over 100 yards before I heard about the happiest shout that I could imagine, he was dead in his tracks! We loaded him into the truck and when we got back to camp I was treated to a real treat as the locals celebrated the end of another dangerous predator on our arrival.
A really unforgettable hunt, and a fantastic lion as well..............Bill

[NewGuy]

Congrats and Welcome Back!! Nice to see you made it back in one piece!!

[Grizzly Adam]

Way to go, and congratulations, Bill!

Glad you had a good and safe trip.

Is there any way for us to see the action?

[sumner4991]

Would have been a more interesting read if you had spent the night.

Congrats!!

[Kelley]

Great Hunt and commentary Bill. Congratulations.
Kelley

[wabi]

Congratulations!!!!!!!!!!!
And welcome back.
Sounds like a good hunt.

[Big John]

Glad your back safe and had a Great time.
Sounds like the trip was very eventful, and just enough to make your hair stand on end!

[one shot scott]

It sounds like a blast! Congratulations on the lion!

[ComfyBear]

Congrats are in order Bill. Great tale and ending, but that's not surprising, for a "crossbow hunter who makes crossbows".

[Mike P]

I knew that it was a killing shot, but not perfect,

The Excalibur Crossbow is so precise at that distance that a marginal shot can be placed with a pretty fair chance of success versus other hunting products.

You should thank the person who made it possible for you to attempt that shot!





























Of course that would be Kath.

[catcher]

Congrats on the lion. Can not wait to see the footage. I hope you had enough light to make him a tv star.

[dutchhunter]

way to go bill hope to see some film on this lion will be a trip to remember the rest of your days welcome back now lets get back to work DUTCH

[awshucks]

Congrats! Good read, thanks!

[Limbs and Sticks]

Congrats, good to see all went well, good story


Wes

[lscha]

Congratulations Bill! That was a great story. Thanks for sharing it with us forum members.