Hunting Story of a Lion Attack

[CaptainMal]

NOT going to show you the hunter or identify him. Am first showing my wife looking around some of the ROOMS (that's plural) in his house as we visited today. Stopped there as he had some primers for sale and a friend told me I really should visit. WOW!

First a couple house pictures and then the story. That is my wife taking pictures.
86786DF6-0CF9-469C-8BB2-1AC817B7ED53 by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr
0F3E7BBD-4E1D-4591-87DE-4B0EC080C454 by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr
930854F5-1C99-4FDE-87F9-AE84375701E7 by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr
5951421B-9746-43B2-8AAF-DC3016AE503E by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr

That is a small part of the rooms we visited in his house, let alone the walk-in safe and more. Unreal. I will not identify. Now for the story.

The owner is an older man that took what you see all around the world from 1988 to when he quit hunting. Before that he had a huge trophy collection totally LOST in a house fire. This is the second group.

He is in Africa using a custom 280 he had built light for plains game. I mean real light, pencil octagonal barrel custom designed for him. Well one day he had a lion do him dirt and attack. He was not hunting them at the time with the 280 but had to use it to defend himself from a charge. This was a new rifle he had not fired much before this trip. His theory, as you see there is NO PRESSURE SIGNS from the case and no evidence of a barrel obstruction, is the metal was just too thin in the chamber area.

I looked at the barrel totally and it is thinner and octagonal than the picture shows. Kind of like my Remington mountain rifle but with the octagonal contour going back into the chamber area.

Well you can guess what happened next.

69BE6F7D-BE63-4B21-B89B-51485B22712C by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr
B17C36E4-1D11-4D96-9864-C985D9B0216F by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr

Fortunately for him there were others with him at the time the lion charged and bit his thumb off. They were able to finish off the lion but the damage was done. Operations later surgeons removed a finger and made him a thumb along with a story to tell the rest of his life.
9F54DF39-A049-407B-914A-0CA1C8A7B6CF by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr






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[1raggedhole]

Nice collection, but ouch!

 

[gambleone]

Could have turned out way worse.

 

[Alibaba]

All I can say is WOW what a collection.
Thank you for sharing this.
Al.B

 

[tominboise]

Wow - that's a story.

 

[Alex Wheeler]

Cool!

 

[dedogs]

Sometimes you're the Louisville Slugger. Sometimes you're the ball. dedogs

 

[KY_Windage]

I was hoping they let him keep the lion, but didn't see one. GREAT post, Captain.

 

[Deleted outa08]

Thanks Captain, great pictures of a great collection. Reminds me of a wildlife display in the Fin,Fur and Feather in Haneyville PA. Only this is a mans` house. Amazing. Thanks again, Jeff

 

[CaptainMal]

I was hoping they let him keep the lion, but didn't see one. GREAT post, Captain.

I have two lion pictures. One has a male lion mounted BUT the owner is in that picture and I will not identify him or his location. The wife had this one but it is probably a mountain lion. I think the African lion that "did him" was a female.

Photos - 1 of 1 (5) by Larry Malinoski, on Flickr

No way reasonable to picture all the things and locations there are to see in his main house in just the rooms we were allowed to view.

 

[Papa Charlie]

Amazing home and displays.

That event could have gone so wrong in so many ways. Very lucky man in many respects.

 

[Tparrish]

Interesting read, thanks for sharing.

 

[CaptainMal]

Since our meeting I recently found out more. Seems this lion, though wounded, got away. People around him had to deal with controlling the damage and then getting him transported 180 miles to the nearest medical care facility. There were further transfers after that and a return to the U.S. The location of the lion was not a priority.

 

[whatwind?]

That sable, those are nice

 

[SEGARE]

I'm a Realtor and am currently involved in a sale where a similar number and species are involved...though, as far as I know no one lost a thumb. (I spy elephant feet stools.)

 

[1lessdog]

I have to wonder if maybe the rifle blowing up had anything to do with the severed thumb.

 

[CaptainMal]

I have to wonder if maybe the rifle blowing up had anything to do with the severed thumb.

Sure it did. When the thing blew the bullet did not effectively kill the lion. It slashed at him, caused some claw damage but bit into his hand as he tried to ward it off. Think others with him shot it again and off it went.

What you see is what was left of his hand repaired later on. Probably, if the shot had gone correctly, this would not have happened.

Now it could be that the story is a total lie. Think his wife was with him as she hunted with him often. Do not know of others. Many friends of mine, Larry T. and Eric Bostrom (the gunsmith) have told me about this event.

My take is the story is true.