Dustin Britton was cutting wood at his Shoshone National Forest campsite when a mountain lion charged him.  Unfortunately for the mountain lion, Dustin Britton was armed with a chainsaw which prevented an almost certain mauling.  A day later, the mountain lion was tracked by hound and killed.  Further inspection revealed the cat was in poor physical condition and simply looking to find an easy meal.  Too bad the cat picked the guy with holding the Husqvarna.  Crazy story to be sure!

This from Scott Mayer yesterday

Folks,

I’m fortunate to be visiting with Craig and Brittany this week.  I’ve asked if they would give you a little follow up on the leopard incident that you’ll find below:

From Brittany’s dad, Craig:  Friends, first off I want to thank all of you for the wonderful show of support.  I was 1,000 miles away in Zimbabwe when this tragedy occurred, and it is very easy to second-guess and Monday morning quarterback such a thing.  In fact, that’s exactly what I did while I scrambled to get to Namibia.  Once there, after I had a chance to review PH Nic Kruger and daughter Brittany’s statements–with the added advantage of seeing video and still photos taken at the accident site–I had nothing to say.  Such an accident is always, somehow, avoidable–but this one was truly as close to unavoidable as such a thing can be.  I knew the rumors would fly, so Brittany and I agreed that we should get the facts out as quickly as possible.  I really appreciate Scott helping us with that–and, again, I can’t thank you all enough for the your compassion and understanding.

As an update, Punki will be out of the hospital this week–which a whole lot better than the initial prognosis!  He has some nerve damage affecting movement in his right foot, but the current estimate is 90% full recovery, and he will hunt with his dogs again relatively soon.  As for the dogs, this is a great pack.  They have done dozens of leopards without incident–but this was an extremely aggressive leopard, with most of the pack receiving injuries of varying degrees.  They, too, are recovering well–and since then have taken a great leopard for Omujeve’s next hunt, Mike Fifer, who is the CEO of Ruger.  I’ll let Brittany add a few words:

I want to say thanks again for the overwhelming support on this and other sites regarding the accident. There are a hundred things I can think of that could have gone different but they just didn’t… at this point I can only take this as a horribly hard lesson learned and moved forward. I have set up an account to help Punki continue to receive the absolute best care available and anything contributed is much appreciated. It is the Punki Recovery Fund at P O Box 33303, Granada Hills CA 91394. Thanks again I don’t know what I would have done without all of you and your kind words.

–Brittany Boddington

Glad to hear the situation will end with everyone not too worse for wear.  There is certainly a reason why they call it dangerous game hunting.

This just out, courtesy of AfricaHunting.com.  Written by Dave Fulson, this is a chilling account of a Big Five Africa hunt gone wrong.

Leopard Hunting Accident Involving Craig Boddington’s Daughter
By Dave Fulson

Gentlemen,
As many of you know, I am one of Craig Boddington’s partners in our two TV shows “Tracks Across Africa” and” Hornady’s Africa With Craig Boddington and Ivan Carter”. During a phone call with Craig this morning from Namibia, Craig asked me to post this on AR to answer any questions on what is sure to be a well traveled topic on the rumor mill. Craig’s eldest daughter Brittany is an avid, and fairly experienced big game hunter with multiple safaris under her belt, several of which were targeting dangerous game. I have filmed several of her safaris for the show, and always found Brittany to be safety conscious where firearms were concerned ,a result of learning under a father who stresses the point of firearm safety at all times. Last week while filming a leopard with dogs hunt with our Tracks TV crew in Namibia , an incident happened that resulted in (1) a flat out charge from an UNWOUNDED ,but agitated male leopard (2 ) a dog handler being savaged by the cat (3) an attempt by Brittany to kill what was, by the time of her shot,a wounded leopard that accidentally hit and wounded the man being mauled.
At the time of the accident , Craig was filming in Zimbabwe, but flew to Namibia to assist as best he could, and as you can imagine comfort his daughter from the obvious anxiety of the situation she was dealing with. The attending PH was Nic Kruger, a first rate hunter and Co-owner of Omujeve safaris. Nic is an experienced leopard man, and we have enjoyed several wonderful safaris under his and his brother Corne’s care. For those of you who have never experienced a close range charge from an infuriated leopard , trust me , it is scary as hell and it happens with shocking speed. It is easy to second guess these situations ,especially when the facts of the hunt are unknown or blurred second hand accounts. The following is the official police report as filed by both Nic and Brittany. Please read both accounts,and I believe you will reach the same conclusion as I have, that this was a very fast moving situation that both PH and client were trying their level best to control,to the best of their ability and skill. As I said, due to the last name involved, this is bound to get some attention in safari circles. Craig thought, and I agreed, that posting the police reports would be the best method to make sure the facts were accurately portrayed. I have seen some fairly experienced hunters loose their heads under far less stressful situations than the flat out charge of a leopard at point blank range. I think Brittany did her best to stand firm and shoot what she believed to be a wounded cat. The accident was just that, a terrible twist of luck that can happen to each and every one of us that hunt dangerous game.

POLICE REPORTS

I, Brittany Boddington, a 23 year old U.S. citizen herewith declare under oath as follows: Read the rest of this entry »

I read a great article written by Pat Lefemine of Bowsite.com last week and decided it was important to pass along to all of you who might not also visit that great website.

He outlines how to inspect your taxidermy mounts for invisible terrorists of hide and horn.  Little beetle larvae could be going undercover to destroy your trophy collection that is worth many thousands of dollars.

Just a few minutes can lead to the all important discovery that you are indeed under attack.  Follow-up treatment is available through Miller’s Trophy Room Preservations.

Read the article and look at the figures to learn how to inspect your taxidermy mounts before it’s too late.  You’ll be sorry…I promise!

This is a quote that came to me through an email from US Sportsmen Alliance this weekend.

I think this sums up some of the proposed regulation changes that are occurring in North Carolina and other states in the Lower 48 right now in response to the groanings of a few political heavy hitters – insurance companies, etc.

It’s a slippery slope whenever politicians get involved in wildlife management. It is a highly scientific process that should be handled by the responsible agency and not be made a political football.

- Rick Story

Well, I didn’t get drawn to hunt in Kentucky’s 2008 elk hunting season, but you can be sure that I will be applying for next year’s hunt again. Wow, the bull elk rifle season ended on Saturday and 88% of hunters harvested a bull elk. 88%!!! That’s astronomical. Of the 115 bull elk taken, 2 are forecasted to challenge the state’s non-typical Boone and Crockett record. The largest, an 8×8 gross scoring about 390″, will certainly surpass the previous record and another elk will probably exceed the previous record held by Andy Kidd, a native Kentuckian.

Again, if you missed out on last year’s application, the fee is only $10. Application starts near Christmas time and runs through April. Yes, the odds are low, but heck…so are New Mexico, Arizona, and lots of great units in Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado. For $10, you might just win one of the nation’s highest dividend lottery tags, certainly of the East Coast.

Congratulations to all who were fortunate enough to draw a tag, and I hope that I can join the club one of these years!

To read more, check out this article or visit the state of Kentucky’s website.

Yep, that’s right.  I honestly thought it was a joke until I checked out the website a little more and found to my surprise, it’s not a joke.  Certainly not as prestigious as the revered Boone and Crockett Club, Pope and Young Club, or even Safari Club International record books, but the Road Kill Record Book honors those animals that meet their maker at the hands of car driving non-hunters and hunters alike.  Here is an excerpt from their home page…

“It’s a shame that so many superb examples of various species are left to feed turkey vultures, crows  and other non-trophy critters along the roadbanks. The Road Kill Record Book Club breathes new life into the dandiest denizens of the fields and woods with their inclusion in their own trophy record book.  It’s the right thing to do.”

Check out the website.  They have interesting trophy categories such as  protected species, yucky stuff, small game and furbearers, and even songbirds.  They’ve got a few t-shirts for sale that would certainly qualify as being excellent conversation pieces in your outdoor circles.  Not sure I’ll be rushing them my $10.00 for submitting a big road kill to the record books but an interesting concept nonetheless.

I was reading on the National Wild Turkey Federation website where they received the results back from a survey they sent to members.  Among other things, it had a couple of questions regarding their permission on private land and the difficulty in obtaining and maintaining permission on those parcels.  The researchers were surprised at the high percentage of hunters that indicated they had lost permission hunt on private land parcels that were once accessible.  That number was 65%, that means 2 out of every 3 hunters has experienced a loss in hunting permission on private lands recently.

Although, I didn’t participate in the survey, I would certainly fall into that category.  Last year, I had a wonderful archery spot lined up when the landowner pulled the rug out from under me at the last second.  The only reason he gave me was “I don’t have any problems with you, but I just think we’re not going to have hunting on our land this year.”  What can you do and except politely say, “yes sir”?

Well, here are a few pointers towards NOT losing your hunting permission this fall.

#1 – If you pick up some litter on the property, making a passing remark to the landowner that you noticed some trash and took the time to pick it up.  Don’t toot your own horn, but just mention it.  They’ll appreciate it.

#2 – A couple nicely wrapped packages of venison backstrap, jerky, bologna – whatever he/she likes is always greatly appreciated.

#3 – Don’t leave a gutpile on their land, especially if you’re talking about a 10 acre parcel

#4 – No tire ruts!!!   Pet peeve with landowners and especially farmers!

#5 – Write a note of thanks post-season and even offer to help them out with their leaves or pruning some shrubs or other little task that shows your appreciation.  Remember, actions speak louder than words.

#6 – Don’t be a stranger showing up before dawn to hunt and leaving without ever saying “hey”, take the time every once and a while to talk about the weather or whatever…just show you care.

If you follow these guidelines and anything else you can think of, hopefully you won’t find yourself in the 65% majority, but there are people who – no matter how well you treat them – are going to kick you off their property for seemingly no reason.  Just take it in stride and establish a new relationship with their neighbor.

Well, usually I wouldn’t care much about what goes on in another state concerning deer hunting regulations, but…this is different. Kansas has decided to allow hunters during the early muzzleloader season to use scopes instead of being required to use iron sights. Why do I care about that?

Big bucks like this one! I took this picture from a treestand in August ‘07 at my Maryland study site, but he certainly was big enough to belong in the Midwest! I’ve got a preference point for Kansas and should be a shoe-in for a non-resident muzzy tag this fall. My dad grabbed a hold of a lease in southeastern Kansas last year and we decided to opt for applying for archery tags and building our preference points, but sent 2 friends to scope out the deer hunting for us. They killed 2 bucks – a 138″ on the first sit of the hunt and a 169″!!! The amazing thing about that buck was that it only had a 12 1/2″ inside spread, but picket fence with beams that stretched way out over his nose. STUD!!!

My dad went up for a turkey hunt last spring and bagged a really nice bird that he just got back from the taxidermist a couple of weeks ago. I’ll try to grab a picture of that hunt this weekend and post that next week in lieu of spring turkey season rapidly approaching. He is headed back up in a couple weeks to do another turkey hunt, so I’ll report on that when the time is right.

But anyways, Kansas’ change extends our effective range during that early muzzleloader season from 50-60 yards to however far I can shoot a muzzleloader accurately 100-150 yards. Yeehaw! Pumps me up even more than I was!!! We were already planning on taking a trip during the September muzzy season, and this just increases our chances at a Booner!!! For those interested, Kansas also legalized crossbows for use during the Kansas firearms season.

I saw this somewhere, unfortunately I can’t remember where, but I know one thing for sure…It is worth posting about! Robert M. Poole wrote this article for National Geographic in November 2007. Any positive article on hunting these days in the mainstream media is a rarity, and that certainly makes this article a gem. If you’ve already seen this, you can look over this post and look forward to tomorrow’s, but if you haven’t, Read This