Great hunting stories in African Hunting Gazette

I imagine that most of those who lurk on MM that are interested in African hunting haven't actually done much hunting over there, if any at all. With that in mind, I want to tell all of you about what I, and many others, consider to be the very best magazine on African hunting. That magazine is African Hunting Gazette. You can find it easily on the www if you do a search.

One article in the current issue, the 'focus on elephants' issue, brought back some very vivid memories of one of the greatest hunts I've ever enjoyed. On page 64 is an article by Joe Coogan titled "Footloose Lion", which deals with a hunt he did with Robert "Pete" Peterson, the founder of Peterson Publishing and "Hunting" magazine. It recounts a 1987 safari they took in northern Botswana where they took a magnificent lion after tracking him on foot. At one point, when they spotted the lion in front of them, they were less than 10 yards from the big cat.

Boy, did that article ever bring back good memories. I took the one and only lion I've shot in northern Botswana in 1989, after tracking him for perhaps 3-4 miles on foot. It was the most intense and nerve wracking tracking imaginable, as we'd go from short grass areas with good visibility where my 1.5-5 Leupold scope was perfect on top of my .416 hoffman, to heavily vegetated islands where I'd quickly detach my scope and go to open sights as visibility was no more than 20 yards, and often much less. Fortunately, when we caught up to the pride, with one male and 4 females, they were sleeping in a short grass plain and we were able to take the big cat at about 75-80 yards.

I'll never forget that wonderful hunt, but Joe Coogan's article brought it back into sharp focus for me. Thanks Joe!