The
Big Five
Elephant, Leopard, Lion, Cape Buffalo, and Rhino
Elephant
This Elephant was taken in Botswana in 1997. The tusk you see are fiberglass reproductions of the originals - which weighed over 70 lbs. each. This elephant was shot at 40 yds with a .416 Remington Mag. rifle. The elephant was shot in the heart. He ran 150 yds into area of thick a Mopani trees. He attempted to right himself and was shot a seven paces. The meat from this animal feed over a one hundred people for several weeks. Note the original skull and huge leg bones under the mount.
Leopard
This leopard was also shot in Botswana. The leopard was TRACKED for eleven days. This means that his spore was literally tracked by several bushman "trackers". The leopard traveled in a figure eight pattern covering more than 150 miles. When the leopard realized that we were on his trail he began to run in a straight line. We never saw him run, but could tell by the dust in his prints that he was running. Finally we saw him - We went to where we thought he was and saw nothing. Then he let out a large roar and sprang from a bush less than 10 feet away. He was shot and fell on top of a bush 9 feet from the end of my gun barrel.
Desert Lion
This is a large Desert Lion that was shot in the Kahlahari Desert, Botswana. This region has now been closed to all hunting. Because this lions natural habitat was the desert he has a thinner main than many you will see in pictures. This animal was also tracked for several days. When we finally came up on him he was with two lionesses. They split up and we followed him. When he went to bay (45 feet away) he was facing us. I shot him in the right shoulder and he began to roll and roar furiously. I suspected he was finished - I was wrong. He got up and began to charge. I raised my .375 and shot him square in the chest. He fell 35 feet away.
Cape Buffalo
This is one of several Cape Buffalo's that I have shot during my trips to Africa. This Buffalo was shot in Botswana. He was in a heard of over 500. We split the hear in half over five times to isolate this bull. He was shot in the heart with a .375 solid and lived long enough to turn and face us. He was quickly met with another .375 to the head.
Rhino
This Rhino was shot in South Africa. He was shot with a .375 solid in the heart. It took over ten men to turn the Rhino over. It was discovered that he had hundreds of golf balls size worms in his stomach. This is only one of a handful of life size Rhino mounts in the United States.