I’ve hunted one CBL (Captive Bred Lion), but all the other lions which I’ve hunted were the wild specimens in Tanzania. Aside from hunting hippopotamus bulls on land in the sugarcane fields at night, hunting wild lion (especially an on foot stalk) ranks as my favorite form of African dangerous game hunting. Hopefully, I will be back for another very soon.
Personally speaking, CBL hunting is just not for me and can never compare to hunting truly wild lion. Not in a million years. But (without boasting or trying to show off about my financial status) this is only because I can afford to hunt wild lion once every few years. A luxury which not every hunter can afford (and we must always strive to think about our fellow hunters including those who are on tighter budgets than we are). For them, a properly regulated CBL hunt comes reasonably close to the real thing (although obviously not entirely).
But if somebody goes around saying that hunting CBL lions is completely risk-free and akin to shooting fish in a barrel… Well, then they have absolutely no business talking about lion hunting in the first place. Unfortunately, the old adage goes “The most ignorant voices are the loudest”. If you ask me, CBL hunting isn’t the biggest threat to the future of hunting. It’s self righteous hunters with a “Holier than thou” attitude. And the wealthier they are, the more condescending they are towards forms of hunting aimed at the more budget oriented hunters. Somebody here said “The lower the price, the more flexible people's perception of ethics become.”. Well, that works both ways. The wealthier a person is, the more stringent their perception of ethics seems to become. So all that serves to prove, is that we’re each only as ethical as our budget permits.
If you can afford it, go for a wild lion hunt.
BUT
with a proper outfitter, a CBL lion hunt can be a very exciting one (although there are plenty of unethical outfits that conduct CBL hunts in the most depraved of manners). Feel free to drop me a line if you’d like to get in touch with my outfitter. I assure you that you will have a very regal time.
P.S: CBL lions do have certain behavioral differences than truly wild lion. But this not not make them much less dangerous.
As always,
@Hunter-Habib you are the voice of wisdom based on a lifetime of experience.
I have hunted two CBL lionesses and enjoyed both hunts. Those were tracking hunts where on the second one, we found lioness tracks on top of ours. She knew we were tracking her and decided to hunt us hunters! While traversing through areas with brush tall and thick enough for lions to hide within 3 meters of the lioness trail, I wasn’t scared but that lioness darn sure had my attention! Certainly tracking a truly wild lion would be as or probably more dangerous!
The anti climax of CBL hunts are lions be they wild or CBL have NO fear of humans. At 50 meters where any lion could truely be dangerous, a CBL sits or lays almost motionless piercing the hunter with their amber daggers of eyes. For anyone with above average shooting ability, the kill shot is pretty easy. Let me add that only a darn fool would prevoke any lion to charge. Sucide by lion would not be enjoyable...
Aren’t most wild lion hunts conducted using bait? Now, sitting quietly in a blind close to lion bait is a certainly an art, but if conducted correctly is there any danger? Perhaps not so long as the hunter delivers a bullet into the lion’s kill zone. But, if a hunter flinches on the shot, or the lion moves as the hunter is squeezing the trigger, then there is a wounded lion for the PH to “sort out”.
Personally, I prefer tracking hunts. I sit in my blind for many hours over many days to slay a couple whitetails every November. After a couple days, well it gets a little boring. Now, there is a time and place for setting up an ambush to bushwhack an animal. For me, it is satisfying to track an animal and figure out where the animal WILL be and go forward to set up an ambush there.
So, to each their own form of lion hunting. Wild lion if one can afford them and if they enjoy many nights in a blind waiting, and waiting. Or, a properly executed CBL hunt from a reputable PH outfitter for the rest of us.
Certainly the longer a CBL is feeding itself, the likelihood of a challenging hunt will increase with time. But that increase may not be proportional. How long does a CBL take to “go wild”? A few days perhaps to reach maybe 75% (just a guess). Afterward, CBL’s slowly become more wild over the next days and weeks. A study of such based on a sample set of 50 would be very interesting. A hypothesis could be CBL’s go 75% wild in an average of three days with a rapidly decreasing rate over the following days and weeks. A second hypothesis could be CBL’s only on average only reach a 95% wild state after three months.
How do we judge if a lion is truly wild? What criteria do we use? How do we quantify those criteria? What about smart and dumb lions? Certainly even wild lions have differing degrees of intelligence.
So there are many variables to wild lions and CBL’s. Hunting each also has many variables. What about the outfitter? Is the PH ethical or not? Based on what degree of ethical behavior? Gosh knows. Once again, to each their own.
Hunt safely, shoot well.
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