The Lion of Zion

[drifter]

Dear Shooter,

Thanks for sharing the story. Your Grandfather will surely be pleased.

Regards,
drifter.

[skeetshot]

ShikariShabash for a great hunt and a great story. Well done.

[Vikram]

Shooter,

Excellent report and as good a read as I have ever read!My kudos to you for your dedication to the spirit of adventure,fairness and eagerness to share your experiences with others.Congratulations on the great hunt.

I am very pleased that you came out none the worse for wear except for a few sore muscles.

Now-The first thing you need to invest is in a good camera-portable and yet takes good photos.You owe it to yourself and your readers.That is not a request.A demand!

Question- Why did not the guide use an expanding type of bullet instead FMJs?Just curious.I am sure he knows what he was doing.

Thank you for sharing this great report with us.

Best-
Vikram

[timmy]

Vikram, I don't mean to jump the gun on shooter here, but it's quite common out West to use FMJ, rather than expanding bullets on animals that are being hunted for the hide and fur, like coyotes, etc. The expanding bullets can be quite damaging to the pelt.

[shooter]

dear vikram timmi said it.

Re: camera it developed a problem during 'the longest yard' so i sent it for repair. it came after i left for usa. took a borrowed camera there. found out in the wilderness that it didnt have a memory card!

[Vikram]

Thanks, Tim and Shooter, for the explanation on the FMJs.


Best-
Vikram

[Sakobav]

shooter

Thats a great story mate - I am trying to catch up on IFG congrats will read it leisurely

Thanks

[dev]

Amazing work Shooter. Some questions why a 223 besides the weight of the rifle, is this what is normally used? I am asking cause I know nothing about this. Secondly, did you get a taste of the lion, I have read that mountain men prefer it to venison.

Regards,

Dev

[rraju2805]

amezing adventure.

Nice write up. .
Thanx for share.

[shooter]

Dear Dev,
Thanks for the compliment.
Most lions are shot at short ranges hence smaller calibres may be used. One also needs to remember that all cats are thin skinned animals and do not need massive energy to reach the vitals. People who have seen old tiger/leopard/lion skins will know what i mean. In the true american way, many hunters bring their handguns too to shoot them.

As for taste, the meat was frozen in the cold and we couldnt cook it the night we reached the camp. When we left it out all night, it got more frozen during the night.

I had to leave and couldnt carry the meat back home. I had read online that if the guide has done a good ob, one should tip them with the backstraps of the animal shot. So i gave it to him as a tip.

He said he has eaten it many times and though it is definitely edible, it is no way better than deer as it is strong taste. His father has shot even more cougars than him and also states the same thing.

In indian way of cooking there are many ways of getting over the strong taste of game meat but traditionally, carnivora werent eaten.
The only exception was the (in)famous recipe of jackal cooked by Colonel Kesri Singh.

[xl_target]

Dev,

Another thing to remember is that .223 has a muzzle velocity in excess of 3000 fps. At close range, it can pack quite a wallop.
I don't know about mountain men but people around here generally don't eat the meat from carnivores.

[prashantsingh]

I have heard of some tribals in the Terai eating carnivores. Never heard of "civilized" people doing so.

Reminds me of a Joke.
A Cannibal once graduates from Oxford.
A press reporter asks him :"Sir do you still eat human flesh".
He says "Yes"
and adds
"But now with a fork and knife".

[dev]

Thank you Shooter , XL-Target and Prashant, have learnt a little more about shikar today. When it was legit I had gone for a hunt with some friends in the hills. The person who was our guide was a lean Kumaoni, my friends cousins had a beautiful orchard in the hills and it was common to have dogs stolen by panthers.
For three days we would set out from the crack of dawn and return by evening, whether it was by accident or design we saw nothing, though enjoyed being exhausted out of our minds. This was when I was reasonably fit and weighed no more than 70 kilos with a 5'10 frame. We enjoyed making hot tea by a riverside just like in the old four square ads.
I was nicely sun burned (though I thought it wasn't possible after my natural browning) and had lost a few kgs in the four days. The beauty of the hills, the precarious slopes and the way a mountain lantana would give way at the right moment was quite an experience. We were armed with .22 rifles and a .12 bore which we later found our guide carried mostly with the ammo in his pockets. This when a man-eater lurked within the 50 or so km we were traipsing about. We were really delighted not to have made his acquaintance though.

[xl_target]

Ah, The things we did in our youth. One wonders how we survived.
Good story, Dev.

[Priyan]

I have heard of some tribals in the Terai eating carnivores. Never heard of "civilized" people doing so.

Reminds me of a Joke.
A Cannibal once graduates from Oxford.
A press reporter asks him :"Sir do you still eat human flesh".
He says "Yes"
and adds
"But now with a fork and knife".

Here in Assam consumption of captured or killed leopards is common. Even civilized people like in Guwhati ate a few according to newspaper. People think tiger meat has magical power which can cure pain and give someone sexual endurance.