As to the dangers of lion hunting it is also difficult to write. There
is no question that a cool man, using good judgment as to just what
he can or cannot do, should be able to cope with lion situations. The
modern rifle is capable of stopping the beast, provided the bullet goes
to the right spot. The right spot is large enough to be easy to hit, if
the shooter keeps cool. Our definition of a cool man must comprise the
elements of steady nerves under super-excitement, the ability to think
quickly and clearly, and the mildly strategic quality of being able to
make the best use of awkward circumstances. Such a man, barring sheer
accidents, should be able to hunt lions with absolute certainty for
just as long as he does not get careless, slipshod or over-confident.
Accidents-real accidents, not merely unexpected happenings-are hardly to
be counted. They can occur in your own house.
But to the man not temperamentally qualified, lion shooting is dangerous
enough. The lion, when he takes the offensive, intends to get his
antagonist. Having made up his mind to that, he charges home, generally
at great speed. The realization that it is the man's life or the beast's
is disconcerting. Also the charging lion is a spectacle much more
awe-inspiring in reality than the most vivid imagination can predict.
He looks very large, very determined, and has uttered certain rumbling,
blood-curdling threats as to what he is going to do about it. It
suddenly seems most undesirable to allow that lion to come any closer,
not even an inch! A hasty, nervous shot misses--
An unwounded lion charging from a distance is said to start rather
slowly, and to increase his pace only as he closes. Personally I have
never been charged by an unwounded beast, but I can testify that the
wounded animal comes very fast. Cuninghame puts the rate at about seven
seconds to the hundred yards. Certainly I should say that a man charged
from fifty yards or so would have little chance for a second shot,
provided he missed the first. A hit seemed, in my experience, to the
animal, by sheer force of impact, long enough to permit me to throw in
another cartridge. A lioness thus took four frontal bullets starting at
about sixty yards. An initial miss would probably have permitted her to
close.
Here, as can be seen, is a great source of danger to a flurried or
nervous beginner. He does not want that lion to get an inch nearer; he
fires at too long a range, misses, and is killed or mauled before he can
reload. This happened precisely so to two young friends of MacMillan.
They were armed with double-rifles, let them off hastily as the beast
started at them from two hundred yards, and never got another chance. If
they had possessed the experience to have waited until the lion had
come within fifty yards they would have had the almost certainty of
four barrels at close range. Though I have seen a lion missed clean well
inside those limits.
From such performances are so-called lion accidents built. During my
stay in Africa I heard of six white men being killed by lions, and a
number of others mauled. As far as possible I tried to determine the
facts of each case. In every instance the trouble followed either
foolishness or loss of nerve. I believe I should be quite safe in
saying that from identically the same circumstances any of the good lion
men-Tarleton, Lord Delamere, the Hills, and others-would have extricated
themselves unharmed.
This does not mean that accidents may not happen. Rifles jam, but
generally because of flurried manipulation! One may unexpectedly meet
the lion at too close quarters; a foot may slip, or a cartridge prove
defective. So may one fall downstairs or bump one's head in the dark.
Sufficient forethought and alertness and readiness would go far in
either case to prevent bad results.
The wounded beast, of course, offers the most interesting problem to the
lion hunter. If it sees the hunter, it is likely to charge him at once.
If hit while making off, however, it is more apt to take cover. Then one
must summon all his good sense and nerve to get it out. No rules can be
given for this; nor am I trying to write a text book for lion hunters.
Any good lion hunter knows a lot more about it than I do. But always
a man must keep in mind three things: that a lion can hide in cover so
short that it seems to the novice as though a jack-rabbit would find
scant concealment there; that he charges like lightning, and that he
can spring about fifteen feet. This spring, coming unexpectedly from an
unseen beast, is about impossible to avoid. Sheer luck may land a fatal
shot; but even then the lion will probably do his damage before he dies.
The rush from a short distance a good quick shot ought to be able to
cope with.
Therefore the wise hunter assures himself of at least twenty
feet-preferably more-of neutral zone all about him. No matter how long
it takes, he determines absolutely that the lion is not within that
distance. The rest is alertness and quickness.
As I have said, the amount of cover necessary to conceal a lion is
astonishingly small. He can flatten himself out surprisingly; and
his tawny colour blends so well with the brown grasses that he is
practically invisible. A practised man does not, of course, look for
lions at all. He is after unusual small patches, especially the black
ear tips or the black of the mane. Once guessed at, it is interesting to
see how quickly the hitherto unsuspected animal sketches itself out in
the cover.
I should, before passing on to another aspect of the matter, mention the
dangerous poisons carried by the lion's claws. Often men have died
from the most trivial surface wounds. The grooves of the claws carry
putrefying meat from the kills. Every sensible man in a lion country
carries a small syringe, and either permanganate or carbolic. And those
mild little remedies he uses full strength!
The great and overwhelming advantage is of course with the hunter. He
possesses as deadly a weapon: and that weapon will kill at a distance.
This is proper, I think. There are more lions than hunters; and, from
our point of view, the man is more important than the beast. The game is
not too hazardous. By that I mean that, barring sheer accident, a man is
sure to come out all right provided he does accurately the right thing.
In other words, it is a dangerous game of skill, but it does not possess
the blind danger of a forest in a hurricane, say. Furthermore, it is a
game that no man need play unless he wants to. In the lion country he
may go about his business-daytime business-as though he were home at the
farm.
Such being the case, may I be pardoned for intruding one of my own small
ethical ideas at this point, with the full realization that it depends
upon an entirely personal point of view. As far as my own case goes,
I consider it poor sportsmanship ever to refuse a lion-chance merely
because the advantages are not all in my favour. After all, lion hunting
is on a different plane from ordinary shooting: it is a challenge to
war, a deliberate seeking for mortal combat. Is it not just a little
shameful to pot old felis leo at long range, in the open, near his kill,
and wherever we have him at an advantage-nine times, and then to back
out because that advantage is for once not so marked? I have so often
heard the phrase, “I let him (or them) alone. It was not good enough,”
meaning that the game looked a little risky.
Do not misunderstand. I am not advising that you bull ahead into the
long grass, or that alone you open fire on a half dozen lions in easy
range. Kind providence endowed you with strategy, and certainly you
should never go in where there is no show for you to use your weapon
effectively. But occasionally the odds will be against you and you will
be called upon to take more or less of a chance. I do not think it is
quite square to quit playing merely because for once your opponent has
been dealt the better cards. If here are too many of them see if you
cannot manoeuvre them; if the grass is long, try every means in your
power to get them out. Stay with them. If finally you fail, you will
at least have the satisfaction of knowing that circumstances alone have
defeated you. If you do not like that sort of a game, stay out of it
entirely.