Hunting with large-caliber revolvers adds a new level of challenge to a southern California pig hunt.

It was midday, and most of the wild pigs on southern California’s sprawling Tejon Ranch were bedded down in heavy brush and steep canyons. Most of the hunters in our party had taken their cue from the pigs and headed back to the cabin for a snooze. But Myles and I weren’t ready to quit yet, and our guide, Bryan, had an idea.

He stopped the truck across a shallow creek from a narrow ravine that cut down one of Tejon’s steep, grassy hillsides. About a third of the way up the ravine was a small, thick patch of brush.

“I often see pigs bed in that brushy patch,” Bryan said. “I think if we post one person on the lower side, and two of us walk into the brush, we might kick some out.”

Bryan had his work cut out for him, since Myles and I were handgun hunting. We’d already had to pass up several shots at pigs that were beyond the range of our big revolvers, and I could tell Bryan was getting a little frustrated at our limitations. I, however, was enjoying the hunt immensely. Carrying handguns was forcing us to really make use of our hunting skills as we tried to get within fifty yards or less of Tejon’s hyper-alert hogs. Had we been hunting with rifles, we’d probably both have tagged out the day before.

The sun was out for the first time in several days, although huge, puffy clouds hinted that it might not stay that way. Tejon’s 4,000-foot mountains had seen heavy rain for days and the upper elevations, where our lodge was situated, had received six inches of snow in the past twenty-four hours, surprising Myles, who had flown in from Michigan for this late-March hunt.

Proof that it really does snow in southern California!

“I thought this was southern California, but I must have landed in the wrong place!” he laughed. We’d subsequently dubbed this the “Polar Pig Hunt,” but most of our actual hunting time was spent down in the valleys, which were green and lush from heavy rains but untouched by snow.

We crossed the creek and walked into the bottom of the steep ravine. The wind was perfect for our little push. Somewhat selfishly, I volunteered to take the post below the brushy patch, figuring it would yield the best chance for a shot if the pigs came trotting out. I extended a Bog-Pod to its standing position and rested the scoped, 6-inch .44 Smith & Wesson revolver on it, testing to be sure that I could swivel easily to all points of the compass. Satisfied with my setup, I nodded to Bryan and Myles and they slowly climbed toward the patch of the brush, easing around above it. They’d enter from the upper side in hopes of dislodging any pigs that might be in there.

The ravine fell silent after they left, except for the chirping of a few songbirds. I watched the brushy patch carefully, but I was thinking about how nice it was to be out hunting again after a long winter. Pig hunting in southern California is one of my favorite spring rituals. This hunt was particularly fun, since I was joined on the trip by several old and new friends. I had just met Myles, a sales rep for Trijicon, and we were getting along great. Several other hunting friends were sharing the lodge with us, and all of us had taken on the considerable challenge of trying to bag a pig with a handgun.

Myles had fitted several of the revolvers with Trijicon RMR sights, including the .460 S&W Magnum he planned to use. All the .44s with the tiny red-dot sights had been spoken for this morning, though, so I had borrowed Dick’s gun, which was fitted with a 1.5-4X scope. The red-dot sights had seemed easy enough to use when we’d sighted in the guns during a heavy snowstorm yesterday, but being a handgun newbie, I thought maybe the scope would be even easier.

I was jolted out of my reverie by the heavy boom of Myles’s .460 echoing out of the patch of brush and through the narrow ravine. Get ready! I thought, and just as I did, four pigs burst out of the brushy patch at a brisk trot. After a millisecond of surprise that our plan had worked to perfection, I trained the revolver on the pigs, which were trotting rapidly past me, single file, at less than twenty yards. To my horror, I couldn’t find them in the scope! As I desperately moved the unfamiliar gun and finally caught the trailing pig in the cross hairs, only his broad behind and longish tail was visible as he crested the rise and was gone. I raced up to the top of the rise and this time found them in the scope, but they were now well out of range.

Myles and Bryan emerged from the brush, pleased with themselves and wanting to know why I hadn’t shot. I confessed to my failure to get my scope on a pig, sheepishly admitting that I would have been much better served with a red-dot or open sight on such close-range, fast-moving targets.

Trijicon’s RMR sight: better than a scope for quick shots at close-range, fast-moving targets, as I discovered.

Myles and Bryan had sneaked in and surprised the group of pigs, and Myles had dropped his with a perfect shot at less than fifteen yards. The 6.5-MOA red dot from the RMR sight provided an ideal aiming point on the black pig as it stood in heavy shadow, and the 200-grain CorBon XPB spitzer from the massive .460 had put the pig down for good. It was Myles’s first handgun kill, and I couldn’t have been happier for him. As we took photos, he offered to let me hunt with the .460 for the rest of the day, and I jumped at the chance.

After a quick lunch break, we spent the afternoon making some more pushes through patches of brush with the help of a couple of “pig dogs,” gutsy terriers owned by the guides who were trained to find and bay wild pigs. But when we finally busted a group of pigs out of a briar-choked streambed, the pigs ran ahead of the dogs and left them far behind as they headed into the grassy fields. The strategy worked well enough for our purposes, however; once the group was out in the open, we could go after them.

Myles with the fine wild hog he bagged with the .460 S&W. Smith & Wesson revolvers equipped with Trijicon RMR sights proved a fine combination for wild pigs on this hunt at Tejon Ranch.

The end of shooting light was rapidly approaching, so we had to hurry. We closed the distance both via the truck and on foot. At one point Bryan, Myles, and I performed a rather comical foot race, splashing across a rushing creek, running through a field, and clumsily hurdling a barbed-wire fence as the hogs worked their way into a field bordered by pecan trees. When we finally got close, there was no time to waste.

“Shoot the big black one if you can,” Bryan urged.

The big sow was standing obligingly broadside, some twenty-five yards away, with the other pigs milling nearby. There was no confusion over sights this time—the big orange dot of the Trijicon gleamed brightly against the pig’s shoulder in the gathering dusk. At the resounding boom of the .460, the pig bucked and staggered, then trotted across the field, toward the trees, and stopped, head low. Hit hard, it would likely have gone down, but I didn’t want to take a chance, especially so close to dark. The pig was now beyond my effective range, however, so at my urging, Bryan put the finishing shot into it with his rifle. The massive dry sow weighed more than 250 pounds and would yield a freezer full of pork roasts and sausage.

We finished up the hunt the next morning with five pigs on the meat pole, four of them felled with the RMR-equipped Smith & Wesson revolvers. Pursuing wild pigs with handguns had been a new and interesting challenge for all of us; a rewarding one we hoped to repeat soon.

I took this 250-pound dry sow with the .460 S&W. The Trijicon RMR sight on the revolver was invaluable, as my shot opportunity happened right at dusk.

EPILOGUE: Lesson Learned

I learned something important about shooting revolvers when I touched off the shot at my pig. I’m an experienced rifle hunter but this was only my second handgun hunt, and as I focused on my quarry right before the shot, I did something I should never have done. In an attempt to get a solid rest for the revolver against a fencepost, I moved my left hand from its proper place on the grip to a position slightly forward and underneath the cylinder—unconsciously mirroring the hand position I would have used with a rifle.

When I touched off the shot, a blast of hot gas from the cylinder gap hit my index finger and thumb, which were positioned much farther forward of where they should have been had I been gripping the gun properly. Fortunately, I was wearing high-quality leather shooting gloves, which protected my hand, and the damage was limited to a burned glove and a lightly singed finger.

Anyone who shoots any kind of revolver should realize that this can happen, but it’s especially important to remember when shooting extremely powerful calibers such as the .460, where the blast is nothing to trifle with. The fault was entirely mine as I was not using proper handgun-shooting technique, and it’s a mistake I will certainly never make again. Wearing shooting gloves is not a bad idea, either.—D.R.

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Hunting Cape buffalo with an Aimpoint sight

Consider the Cape buffalo. Humped with muscle at the shoulder and neck, black like a pirate, stump-legged and bellicose, he stands immobile sniffing the air. His upper lip curls back to reveal a toothless sneer, only pink gum showing, his wet nose jutted forward to catch any scent that might betray whatever it is that disturbs him–a peculiar lump in the grass.

I am the lump. I’m still right now, sipping tepid warm water from my CamelBak after crawling on my hands and knees some 80 yards across a wide open Zambezi flood plain, the only way to approach the herd of 300-plus buffalo without a stick of cover between us. Mercifully, my knees are protected from the craggy ground of the dry-season plain by a set of Arc’teryx knee pads. My hands squish into fresh buffalo dung as I crawl, but a pair of black leather gloves keeps the tan muck from oozing between my fingers.

I gingerly raise a Leica 7×42 binocular, pressing the rubber eyecups to my eyebrows. A hard-bossed bull is mingled with cows and calves, a typically frustrating situation when trying to pick a particular bull in a herd of over 300 buffalo. Now you see him, now you don’t.

The herd is calm. Many are still lying down in the mid-day heat, chewing cuds and swishing flies away with tuft-tipped tails. The bull is old, his curvaceous horn tips worn down from years of rubbing. Like most buffalo here in Coutada 10, which borders the famous Marremou Game Reserve, once home to Africa’s largest herds of buffalo of some 100,000 strong, he is narrow of spread.

Hammered during Mozambique’s long civil war but bouncing back through sound game management, the buffalo herd today in the Marremou Reserve numbers perhaps 30,000 buffalo of which about 12,000 range across Coutada 10. “Coutada” is the old Portuguese term for “hunting area.” There are no fences at all, only swamps and papyrus beds, miles and miles worth.

Mozambique buffalo, at least here in the coastal region of the Zambezi River delta, are genetically predisposed to narrow spreads, making for unimpressive trophies. I hear that the odd 40-incher is taken every season, but I’m a skeptic. I always check the skinning shed when I arrive in a safari camp to get an idea of an area’s possibilities, and in this camp’s shed I measure four buffalo: 33, 33, 35 and 37 inches.

My professional hunter, Jacques Kellermann, an Afrikaaner from Pretoria, said he expects clients to shoot a solid-bossed buffalo of around 36 inches, on average. The buffalo in the shed average 34.5 inches, below the norm.

But I don’t care. I’m not here for a Gold Medal. I’d have to go much further upstream, into the lower Zambezi Valley of Zimbabwe, to have a reasonable expectation of a good buffalo. Here I settle for a hard-bossed, mature, old bull, never mind his dinky spread.

I inch closer, head bowed so not to show my face to the curious buffalo looking at the oddly shaped lump wobbling toward them in the grass. My rifle is a new-production Winchester Model 70 Safari Express chambered in .458 Win. Mag. It’s essentially the same Model 70 that “Winchester” made before its New Haven plant closed down, but now one with the “Winchester” name stamped in FN’s North Carolina plant. I’m delighted to find that the trigger on “the rifleman’s rifle” is greatly improved, thanks to new a three-point leverage system. It feels like a 2-pound match trigger. It’s not, of course, but the compound leverage of the FN-improved trigger gives it a much lighter feel.

I wear a Kifaru day pack with a CamelBak and other “essentials” like spare ammo, a SureFire flashlight, first aid kit, knee pads, gloves, and other stuff. I slide the rifle sideways in between my back and the pack, a comfortable and convenient way to carry a rifle while on hands and knees crawling. I make sure not to point the barrel at anyone on my left, not that anyone else is on the flood plain beside Jacques, who’s in front.

Jacques and I are now 40 yards from the herd and we dare not go closer. A dozen cows are looking at us with the Motorola dog’s quizzical stare. A calf bleats. Cattle egrets mill about. Tick birds prance across a sea of black backs, orange and red beaks shining beautifully.
I set up my short Stoney Point shooting sticks, the ones made for the sitting position. I nestle the Winchester’s forend into the V of the sticks and look at the herd through an Aimpoint “Hunter” optical sight. My “Hunter” is a new model from the Swedish sight manufacturer, featuring a single red “dot” aiming point in a much larger tube diameter than previous versions. This one sports a nice, fat 34mm tube diameter, compared to 30mm of previous models. Additionally, the tube features a longer overall body to allow for greater versatility in ring placement.

The Aimpoint’s battery life is absurdly long. Turn it on and leave it on—-and the battery lasts an unbelievable 50,000 hours, or just shy of six years. The dot’s brightness can be adjusted easily with a rheostat switch. I say again—-six years!
The red dot settles on the buffalo’s black shoulder. I notice how easy and fast the sight acquisition is, the dot jumping out like a landing light on a dark airstrip. At the shot, the buffalo hunches. I reload with the rifle at my shoulder and watch as the herd gallops away in a haze of dust.

I know what will happen. The bull will slip to the back and fall behind, which I anticipate by getting back on the sticks and watching around the red dot as the herd stampedes away. When they’re about 170 yards away, a solitary bull slows to a labored walk, dropping behind the disappearing herd.

I rock him with another 500 gr. Swift A-Frame. He staggers, lurches forward. My third round in the Winchester’s magazine is a solid and I hold high on his back. He tumbles sideways, legs go awry, dead as he hits the ground. No death bellow; the last shot breaks his spine.

Before closing in, I laser the distance: 209 yards for the third shot. The first was about 40 yards and took the heart; the second was about 160 and hit the lungs. I’m pleased that the Aimpoint could deliver not just a first-shot on the money, but two follow-ups as well. Two hundred yards is damn good for a non-magnified sight.

The Aimpoint “Hunter” finds a home on my .458 as I realize that the optic’s unlimited field of view and bright red dot are tailor-made for dangerous game in

Technical Specifications: Aimpoint H34L

Length: 9.0”
Tube Diameter: 34mm
Weight: 9 ozs.
Reticle: red dot, 2 MOA
Field Of View: unlimited
Magnification: 1x (none)
Battery Life: 50,000 hours
Included: 34mm Weaver-style rings, battery, adjustment tool

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Now more than ever, lever-action rifles are a great choice for big-game hunting.

Like a lot of kids, I grew up in the Northwest during a time when blue jeans were not a fashion statement and most everyone got a haircut once a week. The opening of big-game season was a big deal. When the first part of October rolled around and everyone headed for their favorite hunting grounds, most of the rifles that came off the gun racks were lever actions. Models and calibers varied, but most of the rifles were Winchesters or Marlins.

To the farmers and ranchers, they were just a reliable tool, just like a shovel or rake. They stood in the corner of the porch or hung on a peg in the barn most of the year so they were easy to get to in case some varmint started bothering the livestock or digging holes in the field. I can even remember seeing a few that were painted black so they wouldn’t rust.

It does make you wonder why the lever gun was the rifle of choice over the more modern scope-sighted bolt-action rifles. When you stop to think, it makes sense. The typical lever rifle is a bit shorter and lighter than a bolt rifle. Little maintenance is required to keep it in working order. A lever rifle is designed so that if it is dropped in the mud or dirt all that is needed is a slosh in the creek or a hit with an air hose to keep it operational. The thin profile makes it a natural to fit in a saddle scabbard or hang against a wall, and you can stuff a half dozen rounds in the magazine so in most cases you don’t have to carry extra rounds in your pocket.

And in those days, if you were blessed by being left-handed, the selection of good hunting rifles was very limited–except for the ambidextrous lever gun, which didn’t care which side of the stock you put your cheek.

When Savage discontinued the popular Model 99 a couple of years ago and when Winchester announced this winter that there would be no more Model 94s, some people thought the lever gun was going to fade into obscurity. Nothing could be further from the truth. These guns have been around since the end of the Civil War and they aren’t going away any time soon.

One activity that will ensure the longevity of the lever rifle is the popularity of Cowboy Action shooting. The rifle portion of this fast-growing sport is almost exclusively lever guns. What could be more fun than dressing up like Wild Bill or Calamity Jane and banging away at steel gongs from the back of a wooden horse or behind a hay bale? There is so much interest in this sport that Marlin and other manufacturers and importers are producing rifles specifically for the Cowboy Action shooters that are chambered for the old cartridges and feature long octagonal barrels, buckhorn sights, and crescent bull plates. Ammunition manufacturers such as Black Hills, Winchester, Ultramax, and others are making ammunition specifically for Cowboy Action shooters with lead bullet loads that are ballistically equal to the original factory loads from a hundred-plus years ago. That has given new life to old cartridges such as the .38-40, .44 Russian, and .45 Schofield, not to mention the .45 Long Colt, .38-55, and .45-70.

For the big-game hunter, modern technology combined with old, proven designs means that lever guns can now equal the performance of the most modern rifles on the market. Some raise the question of the accuracy of lever-action versus bolt-action rifles, but in most cases, the rifle will shoot better than the person pulling the trigger. Performance on game is a matter of the cartridge and the bullet, not the mechanism that is used to launch it.

The Browning BLR is chambered for .22-250 up through .325 WSM and most popular cartridges in between, including the other WSMs–.270 WSM, 7mm WSM, and .300 WSM. If it’s a long-action cartridge you want, the BLR is also chambered in .270 Winchester, .30-06, 7mm Remington Magnum, and .300 Winchester Magnum. Because of its side-eject mechanism, a scope can be mounted low over the centerline of the bore so fit and sight alignment are as natural as any bolt-action rifle. The other advantage of the BLR is the detachable box magazine the rounds are fed through. There is no need for concern about cartridges loaded one behind the other as there is in a tubular magazine where the bullet is resting against the primer of the cartridge in front of it. Spitzer bullets can be used safely in these box-magazine lever-action rifles, just as they can in bolt actions. (The Savage Model 99 had this same advantage with its rotary magazine, and in later Model 99s, a detachable box magazine.)

Marlin has been making lever-action rifles almost as long as Winchester has. The design of their many models has changed little over the years except for the advent of modern materials and some different variations. The short-action Model 1894, chambered for .44 Magnum, is a great, fast-pointing, close-quarters brush gun for deer.

The Model 336 and Model 1895 are the longer versions, chambered for .30-30 and up to the potent bear-stopping .450 Marlin. All versions of the Marlin lever rifles have a side-eject so a scope can be mounted low over the receiver.

One of the most popular rifles in the Marlin line was introduced a few years ago. The Guide Gun, a version of the popular Model 336, was intended to be used as a backup gun for guides and outfitters who hunt in the North Country where the big bears live. Weighing less than six pounds, with a short barrel that is ported to reduce recoil and made of stainless steel to resist salt spray and moisture, it is fast, handy, and can deliver many rounds in a hurry if needed. First chambered for .45-70, and later for .450 Marlin, it is potent medicine that can be counted on when the need arises.

The one criticism of tubular-magazine lever-action rifles like the Marlins and Winchester 94s has always been that they could be loaded only with round- or flat-nosed bullets to prevent potential detonation of rounds in the magazine as the bullet is resting against the primer of the round in front of it. Consequently, the ballistic coefficient of these bullets was not as high as a spitzer-style bullet of the same caliber and weight.

Hornady cured this problem when it introduced LEVERevolution ammunition in five of the most popular cartridges chambered in tubular-magazine lever-action rifles. Now anyone who shoots a .30-30, .35 Remington, .444 Marlin, .45-70, or .450 Marlin can take advantage of this ammunition, which is loaded with a spitzer-style bullet. The secret is a high-tech Elastomer tip that gives the round the ballistic coefficient of a spitzer, yet is pliable enough to absorb the shock against the primer of the round in front of it, eliminating any possibility of an accidental discharge. With this new bullet design, Hornady is advertising an additional 250 fps muzzle velocity and better downrange terminal performance than the traditional flatpoint or roundnose bullets. Great idea!

Not to be overlooked are the trusty little rimfire lever-action rifles. Marlin’s Model 39, Winchester’s 9422 (if you can find one), and a couple of imports are quality little rifles that shoot well and will last long enough to pass on to the next generation. They are also great rifles for plinking or for teaching someone to shoot. The exposed hammer that makes it easy to see if the rifle is ready to fire and the conscious effort of cycling the lever for the next round are all safety elements that help the new shooter and his or her instructor.

Lever-action rifles are here to stay. A lot of critters have bit the dust over the years at the hands of a competent hunter carrying a lever-action rifle, and that will continue for years to come. If you doubt it, just go back and read “The Medicine Gun for Lions” in the August 2006 issue of Sports Afield. The author, Edmund Lewis, proved that an old Model 95 Winchester chambered in .405 could still kill a lion just as well today as it did for Teddy Roosevelt almost a hundred years ago.

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Optics aren’t just an adjunct to a hunt, they’re an amplifier, increasing your visual pleasure, providing more information, and saving time and steps.

Naturally, you’ll need a binocular for your hunt. But when you travel, don’t pack your glass in your checked luggage. First, you don’t want to risk having an expensive set of optics lifted by a sticky-fingered baggage handler. But more to the point, your binocular is too useful to restrict to hunting camp only. Include it in your carry-on bag or even wear it around your neck. And use it often. Just as it’s important to dry-fire your rifle to develop and maintain proficiency, so is it essential to practice glassing whenever possible, whether you’re studying a bird outside your hotel window or the Rockies from the Salt Lake City airport waiting room.

If you fear drawing attention with your Swarovski 10×42 ELs in JFK (although I haven’t heard of any TSA bans on them yet), try the smaller 8x32s or even a unit as small as a 8×20 compact. A well-made miniature binocular can never transmit as much light or resolve quite as much detail as an equally well-made, full-size binocular, but the higher-quality pocket models come surprisingly close. And they’re so compact, so light, you can store them in a corner of any carry-on bag, or even your shirt pocket. Even if you then pack a full-size hunting binocular, you’ll have a back up. But don’t settle for an inexpensive, off-brand mini binocular. At this size, materials and construction must be first-rate.

Another option is to carry a mid-sized tool such as the 8×32 Swarovski EL or any similar instrument from a top-line manufacturer. Roughly 4.5 inches square and weighing around 20 ounces, 8x32s are my idea of the perfect all-round travel and hunting binocular. Their 4mm exit pupil, coupled with some of the industry’s most efficient multi-coated lenses and phase-coated prisms, makes them bright enough for effective use 30 minutes to 45 minutes after sunset. Heck, I’ve used them on full-moon nights to detect single stems of tall, winter grass against brushy backgrounds at 60 yards. Pack something like this in your carry-on and you might not even need a larger binocular in your baggage.

If, like this traveling hunter, you love what a spotting scope does for your viewing pleasure, consider taking it along, too. You’re not going to wear a 3-pound spotting scope around your neck, but you might squeeze it into a carefully packed carry-on bag. An acceptable compromise between too big and too small is something like the mid-sized Swarovski ATS 20-60x65MM HD, at 2.4 pounds and 13 inches. I frequently fit one of these in my camera backpack, along with an amazing collection of lenses, bodies, a flash, chargers, binoculars, toiletries, spare socks, underwear, shirt–everything I figure I’ll need to survive lost baggage for a day or two. They won’t let me pack a gun in there, but at least I’ll be able to view, study, and photograph wildlife while awaiting the delayed firearms.

I find a spotting scope essential for sizing up open-country game like sheep, goats, and pronghorns. Lots of magnification is also critical for hunting trophy mule deer, elk, whitetails, and even African antelope. Anything with horns or antlers really requires a careful, high magnification vetting if you’re aiming for maximum trophy quality. A binocular is rarely sufficient for seeing small details, and an inch of horn often spans the difference between “book” and no-cigar. Sure, you can let your guide do the studying through his spotter, but that hardly enriches your experience.

If you’re going to pack any optic with a magnification above 12X, it’ll need solid support. A tripod is best. To save weight, I screw a small photo ball head or the Switcheroo head atop a Bog-Pod tripod and slip it into my rifle case. This unit weighs about 2 pounds, but its legs telescope from 22 to 68 inches. Taped together with supplied Velcro, it works fairly well as a walking staff. At camp it suffices as a support pole for rain tarps or laundry lines. Attach a spotting scope or binocular to the head for steady glassing at any height from sitting to standing. Screw on the yoke and use as a rifle rest. After your shot, you can even attach your camera to the tripod and get some self-portraits.

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How the study of these big African cats helps ensure their future.

No matter how often you’ve heard it, a lion’s growl is still enough to send chills down your spine. Standing atop the utility box in the bed of my Land Cruiser in the sweltering heat of a Zambian October, the sound permeated the air with the overpowering menace of a fast-approaching locomotive. Despite having spent years around lions in the wild, I was foolishly engrossed with another task at hand. At the instant that my preoccupied brain finally registered the danger, the lioness charged. Exploding from the nearby bushes in a tawny blur of coughs and snarls, she rocketed to within a few feet of the Cruiser before stopping abruptly, fixing me with a baleful stare, and vanishing back into the shrubby cover.

I was lucky that day; I was also just plain stupid. Getting distracted when you’re in the bush is risky, and in the close company of large carnivores it can easily become the last mistake you ever make. Statistics tell us that most charges are bluffs, but the jelly-like quality of my knees spoke to the small percentage that culminates in full-blown attacks. Hastily, I crawled down off the toolbox into the relative safety of the cab, the metallic tang of adrenaline sharp on my tongue.

Unknown to me at the time was the fact that this big lioness had small cubs hidden nearby. To add to her annoyance, I had just smacked her in the backside with a biopsy dart to collect DNA as part of my research project on African lions in Zambia. This minimally invasive technique involves no drugs or handling of the animal. Like most of the lions that I had darted, this one had taken being unceremoniously jabbed by the little projectile in relatively good humor. However, the dart containing the sample had bounced underneath the scattering of nearby bushes and disappeared, and my lingering search for it had exhausted her maternal tolerance.

A second lioness watched intently from the other end of the thicket, ready to lend support if necessary. This younger female had somehow lost all but a small stump of her tail. The truncated appendage rendered her oddly terrier-like as she walked away with a last disapproving stare over her shoulder at me, now seated sheepishly behind the steering wheel. Fortunately the charge was only a warning, but the point was well taken: I had crossed the line between mere annoyance and threat, and they would not have to tell me again.

The lionesses had come at a run in response to a recording of a bawling buffalo calf. It didn’t help their mood that they felt cheated out of an easy breakfast. Playing sounds of prey in distress is a popular method for surveying African carnivores, and in addition to lions, spotted hyenas, wild dogs, leopards, and even cheetahs sometimes respond to my calls. I often feel a little guilty when a predator appears on the run, sometimes licking its lips in anticipation, to find nothing more edible than a pickup truck and loudspeaker. But the inherent difficulties of working in largely roadless, thickly vegetated habitats necessitates pulling out all the stops.

Zambia is a premier destination for sport hunting of lions, yet until recently, little was known about the country’s lion populations. Most studies focus on lions that live in open plains or scattered woodlands, often in national parks or private reserves. Much less is known about lion populations that inhabit thickly forested and brushy habitats, or lions that reside in hunting areas. It was for that reason that, in 2003, I first came to Zambia to learn more about the country’s lions in the places where it is hardest to find them. Playback recordings and biopsy sampling are two methods I am utilizing to study lions that spend most of their lives in heavy cover.

Compounding the challenge is the fact that the majority of my work is conducted in hunting blocks called Game Management Areas (GMAs), rather than in the more controlled environments of parks or reserves. The anti-poaching efforts of the hunters and safari operators in these areas result in an abundance of game, but some naturally shy species such as lions can be more reclusive because they are not exposed to the high volume of daily tourist traffic compared to lions that reside within national parks, and because older males are targeted as trophies. Although working under these conditions is far more difficult, that is a big part of what makes this study particularly valuable and exciting.

The Zambia Lion Project’s research focuses on promoting sustainable sport hunting of wild lions as a conservation tool. In Kenya, where trophy hunting no longer occurs, lions quickly lost their value outside of the national parks. In contrast, rural communities in Zambia that are involved with the hunting industry reap financial rewards directly from the hunting activities, as well as employment, community improvements like schools, clinics and boreholes, and meat from harvested animals. The year-round anti-poaching efforts conducted (and funded) by safari operators in GMAs result in the protection of wildlife over an area that effectively doubles the size of the country’s national parks.

My work would not be possible without the cooperation and assistance of the Zambian hunting community. In addition to logistical support, they provide samples and information about lions in their areas. Each year, professional hunters, safari operators, and trophy exporters like Banguelo Taxidermy provide photographs and a tooth from each trophy lion, information that is instrumental to developing an age-based trophy selection program. A small snip from each lion hide (along with the biopsy dart samples I collect from live lions) provides DNA that is used to estimate population size, illustrate dispersal patterns, and measure the genetic “health” of Zambia’s lions. Field surveys and end-of-season interviews document lion population status and trends on a countrywide scale. In partnership with the Zambia Wildlife Authority, the Zambia Lion Project’s research is leading the effort to ensure that Zambia is managing its lion populations–and its lion hunting–in a sustainable fashion that is based on rigorous science.

The burning sun had melted its way through the colorful layers of another African sunset as I returned to the site of the morning’s entertainment. As the dusk gathered, I pulled the Cruiser close to the shrubs where the lionesses and my biopsy dart were last seen. Wielding a powerful SureFire flashlight equipped with a blue filter, I scanned the leaf litter and immediately picked out the glint of the metallic dart amid the dry clutter. As the lionesses were likely still nearby, I leaned down from the driver’s seat and snatched up the dart containing the tiny, precious sample without leaving the cab.

Sometimes the smallest things are the most important. Whether it be upholding ethical hunting standards, or teaching the next generation to respect nature, in our own small ways we are each responsible for the future of wildlife and wild lands.

For the African lion, sound methods and levels of harvest combined with anti-poaching and community involvement are key components to responsible stewardship. Only through developing, promoting, and insisting upon sustainable hunting practices such as age-based trophy selection and off-take quotas that are scientifically based on population size, can we demonstrate that sport hunting is a valuable tool for conserving lions, and thus help to ensure the future of the elusive King of Beasts.–Paula White

Dr. Paula A. White is Director of the Zambia Lion Project, research aimed at developing and promoting sustainable hunting practices to help ensure the long-term future of trophy lion hunting. To learn more, e-mail [email protected].

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Hunting makes critical contributions to the future of wildlife populations around the world.

“Sustainable hunting will continue to be a major conservation tool in the 21st century. It conserves wildlife populations and biodiversity in general, whereas hunting bans can speed up extinction,” said the President of the CIC Tropical Game Commission, Dr. Rolf D. Baldus, at a conference during the international IWA-Outdoors Classic trade fair in Nürnberg, Germany. The conference on “Hunting and Sportshooting in the 21st Century” was organized by the “World Forum on the Future of Sport Shooting Activities” (WFSA). The WFSA represents over one hundred million sport shooters from all around the world.

There is no reason for hunters to be defensive or to hide their passion. The high expenditures of hunters all over the world and their investments into the conservation of natural habitats are major and often critical contributions to maintain biodiversity. At the same time this saves the taxpayers millions of dollars, which they otherwise would have to spend for the same purposes. The income hunters provide for landowners serves as a powerful economic incentive for the conservation of nature.

“Total protection of wildlife and hunting bans often achieve the opposite,” Dr. Baldus said, “as they remove the economic value of wildlife, and something without value is defenselessly doomed to decline and in final consequence to extinction.”

The CIC is very concerned about the present effort of a coalition of anti-hunting and animal rights groups to list the African lion under the US Endangered Species Act. This would outlaw the import of lion trophies into the USA. All large cats, which have been formally protected for decades are indeed more and more endangered: the tiger, the snow leopard, and the jaguar. In Kenya the lion has not been legally hunted for over 30 years and during that period, the lion population size has crashed to roughly about 10% of the neighboring Tanzanian lion population, which has been hunted all along the same period! Bans clearly not only do not work, but accelerate the extinction of species.

Wild lion populations outside national parks only have a future if rural people see a direct benefit of living with lions. Official and controlled hunting encourages the lion range states to leave hunting blocks as wilderness and refrain from converting them into pastoral rangeland and agricultural land with little biodiversity left. Banning lion trophy hunting or creating barriers for hunters to take home legally obtained trophies removes the economic as well as management and law enforcement incentives that are necessary for conservation. These counter balances were removed in Kenya that downgraded the lion to vermin, and led poor rural herdsmen to poison lions with easily obtainable insecticides. It is difficult to prevent retaliatory killings when livelihood strategies are threatened: the law is reluctant to impose stiff sentences that compromise poverty alleviation. Conservation authorities cannot defend their justification to conserve lions in such circumstances.

It is a disgrace to observe how the animal welfare organizations follow a neo-colonialist approach. They want to force sovereign African nations and poor rural people to adopt their Disneyland-like version of African nature. Banning lion hunting is a first step to terminate all official hunting in Africa. It aims at depriving developing countries and rural communities from earning necessary revenues from biodiversity. This is a direct violation of the main principles of the Convention on Biological Biodiversity (CBD). The CIC is confident that the United States will not follow this ill-conceived petition of the animal rights organizations.

During the conference, the WFSA presented their “Sports Shooting Ambassadors Awards” to the Namibian Minister of Environment and Tourism, Hon. Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, and Marina Lamprecht of the Namibia Professional Hunting Association (NAPHA) for their achievements to conserve Namibia’s wildlife through hunting tourism.

Ms. Nandi-Ndaitwah explained that wildlife has more than tripled in recent years, as hunting tourism encourages landowners to have game on their land. Wildlife has turned from a cost into an asset. This has been the case on farms and ranches, but more importantly many rural communities have formed conservancies, and the income from wildlife now contributes to their livelihoods. Game is back on land where it had not been seen in years.

“Come to Namibia and hunt,” she encouraged the international hunting community. “By hunting you help Namibia to keep its wildlife for future generations.”–International Council for Game and Wildlife Conservation (CIC). For more on CIC, see www.cic-wildlife.org

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Women are the fastest-growing demographic in the hunting world

More women than men took up hunting last year, according to new data from the National Sporting Goods Association. While total hunters in the USA decreased slightly (.05 percent) between 2008 and 2009, the number of female hunters increased by 5.4 percent, netting 163,000 new participants. Growth areas for women included muzzleloading (up 134.6 percent), bowhunting (up 30.7 percent), and hunting with firearms (up 3.5 percent).

Data also show women outpaced men among net newcomers to target shooting with a rifle, where female participation grew by 4.1 percent.

The growth in new participation among women was no surprise to Steve Sanetti, president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation. “Over the past several years, our industry has worked hard to help build this segment of the market,” he explained. “We’ve developed shooting and hunting products especially for women, reached out with welcoming and instructional workshops for women, and encouraged existing hunters and shooters to introduce their spouses, daughters, and other newcomers to shooting sports and outdoor lifestyles. I believe these efforts are paying off, which is a bright spot for our industry as well as conservation.”

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Are Yellowstone-area bears really more dangerous?

As hunter-grizzly conflicts increase in the Northern Rockies, one name keeps appearing in the accounts of run-ins, charges and maulings: Yellowstone.

That so many bad encounters occur “north of Yellowstone,” or “not far from Yellowstone Park,” seems to substantiate a general belief that grizzlies in the greater Yellowstone area—which includes hunting lands in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho— collide with hunters more often than bears in other regions.

“Yes, historically that’s true,” says Kevin Frey, bear management specialist with Montana’s Fish, Wildlife & Parks, who works in the Yellowstone Ecosystem. “We do seem to have a higher number of conflicts.”

In the last 4 years, according to Frey, 21 people were injured by Yellowstone-area grizzlies, and 48 griz have been killed by hunters.
Why so many clashes? The problem is not solely a matter of bear numbers, as some believe; other areas have as many grizzlies, with a lower percentage of conflicts.

“It’s mostly because the Yellowstone bear is more of a meat-eater than the northern bear,” Frey explains. “In the northern system they have an abundant huckleberry crop and the bears do well with that. Bears everywhere eat meat, don’t get me wrong; but in Yellowstone the grizzly’s diet is heavily protein, whether it’s ground squirrels, bison, elk, carcasses or scavenging winter kills. They hunt calves in spring, they make adult animal kills periodically; and they do actively seek out and latch onto what hunters leave on the landscape in fall, which keeps them in close contact with hunters.” Given this proximity, Frey says, it’s only a matter of time before bears and hunters “bump into each other at too close a range.”

Yellowstone grizzlies are not “meaner” because they eat so much meat, Frey says, although competition with other bears might result in griz that are more defensive over a carcass, and more aggressive in hurrying to claim a gut-pile or carcass.

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Hunting Super Exotics Conserves Rare Big Game

If the last Eld’s deer disappears from the forest, will anyone notice?
The answer, as is so often the case, is this: Hunters will. And they’ll do something about it.

Eld’s deer had disappeared from the forests and plains of Thailand, where they are the national animal. Poaching and habitat loss had decimated them, and none were believed to have survived. Of course, most people didn’t notice, because most people don’t even know what an Eld’s deer is.

Serious trophy hunters know. They know that the Eld’s deer is a striking animal, with antlers shaped like a streamlined caribou rack. A hunter wanting an Eld’s deer today must go to a Texas game ranch, the only place on earth where these very rare animals can be pursued.

If shooting one of the world’s rarest deer seems irresponsible, consider this: If Texas game ranches quit allowing Eld’s deer hunting, the animals would find themselves in far worse trouble.

Eld’s deer are one of the big-game species involved in a program called Ranching for Restoration, run by the wildlife conservation and hunter advocacy organization Conservation Force. John J. Jackson III, chairman and president of the organization, ranks among the world’s most active hunting advocates. The Ranching for Restoration service, which Conservation Force provides free of charge, has become the leading program for conserving some of the world’s rarest big-game species.

Here’s how it works: Texas game ranches must obtain special permits to allow breeding and culling of four rare species, and 10 percent of the trophy fees charged to hunters for these species go toward conservation programs in the animal’s native habitat. In addition to Eld’s deer, these species include red lechwe, Arabian oryx, and barasingha (or swamp deer).

Jackson, a lawyer specializing in wildlife law, completes the necessary permitting process for the rancher free of charge, and ensures the trophy fees go directly to programs that enhance wild populations.

These animals, called “super exotics” by the game ranching industry, command trophy fees of $5,000 to $10,000 because they can only be hunted on select game ranches. Conservation Force applies a percentage of that funding to active global conservation projects.

For example, last year Thailand welcomed home some Eld’s deer, thanks to a reintroduction program that received significant funding from the Ranching for Restoration program.Similarly, in Zambia, trophy fees from red lechwe pay for anti-poaching patrols and habitat preservation, coordinated with the Wildlife Conservation Society. Unlike in many parts of their range, lechwe thrive in these areas.

“It’s one more instance where American hunters are paying their way for conservation,” says Jackson. “Ranching for Restoration is doing more for these animals than any other conservation program.”

Texas game ranches, often tens of thousands of acres, offer hunting for a wide variety of exotic species. This hunting keeps large ranches intact and undeveloped, and provides habitat or a variety of native species. But these ranches also attract a lot of criticism, even from hunters.

Jackson wants both hunters and the nonhunting public to recognize the conservation work these ranches make possible. He notes that the largest populations of some species—scimitar-horned oryx, addax, Dama gazelle—are now found in Texas, not in their native lands.

“Some hunters may not care to hunt exotic game that is captive bred,” says Jackson. “But at Conservation Force, we put conservation first. This program is good for endangered species, and it’s good for trophy hunting.”

Jackson notes that every year, animal rightists introduce legislation to ban or restrict exotic game hunting, which he believes could have negative impacts on global big-game conservation.

“Exotic hunting is the principal tool of saving these endangered species,” he says. “If this hunting were outlawed, it would be a tremendous loss. These species would lose the conservation programs most effective at ensuring their survival.”

Eco-tourists don’t travel to see a barasingha or an Arabian oryx. Red lechwe don’t make it onto the cover of environmental fundraising brochures. But serious trophy hunters can add these animals to their collections—and know that they’re leading the way in conservation.

“At Conservation Force, we want hunting to pay for the conservation of species,” says Jackson. “That’s what the hunting of super exotics in Texas is doing. It’s ensuring that we still have Eld’s deer and other animals, not only on game ranches, but also in their native lands.”

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